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REV. GEORGE F. RASKINS. 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD 



IRELAND, ENGLAND AND BELGIUM. 



GEORGE FOXCROFT HASKINS, 

Rector of the House of the Angel Guardian. 



AN APPENDIX. 



B OSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY PATRICK DONAHOE, 

19 FRANKLIN STREET. 

1S72. 

to 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

PATRICK DONAHOE, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



5 



■^h^\ 



3^ 



TO 

THE REV. JAMES A. HEALY, 

Pastor of St. yames^s Church, Boston, 

THIS LITTLE BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 

BY HIS 

MOST SINCERE AND GRATEFUL FRIEND, 

THE AUTHOR. 

(iii) 



PREFACE. 



'THHESE few pages make no pretension to learning 
or research. They are not published as a Book 
of Travels. They are simply the substance of a few 
lectures delivered by request, at different times and 
places, after my return from a short visit to the Old 
World, in 1871. 

G. F. H. 

Boston, January, 1S73. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. Introduction 9 

II. Over the Water 13 

III. Cork 15 

IV. Upton Reformatory 29 

V. An Adventure 41 

VI. Dublin 43 

VII. Phcenix Park 56 

VIII. Hibernian Military School .... 59 

IX. Emigrants 68 

X. Liverpool 70 

XI. London * 75 

XII. Hammersmith and St. Nicholas ... 77 

XIII. Ilford and North Hyde 85 

XIV. Hyde Park 91 

XV. Sisters of Charity 93 

XVI. Brussels 97 

XVII. Deaf-mute Schools 10 1 

XVIII. Londonderry no 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP, PAGE 

XIX. MucKROSS Abbey ii6 

XX. Conclusion 121 

XXI. Catholic Institutions 123 

XXII. Corporal Punishment 126 

XXIII. Ritualism 131 

XXIV. Disestablishment . . . . . . 140 

XXV. Encumbered Estates 142 

XXVI. Tenant's Rights . . . . . . 143 

XXVII. Home Rule for Ireland . . . •144 

Appendix 147 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



^ I ^HIS was my third trip across the Atlantic. 
My first was in 1840. I was then only a 
neophyte. I had just had the happiness of 
being received into the Catholic Church — the 
glorious Church of the Patriarchs and Prophets, 
of the Apostles and Saints — Christ the corner- 
stone. I had just received Confirmation and Com- 
munion in the dear old cathedral in Franklin 
Street, by the hands of Bishop Fenwick. That old 
cathedral was identified with some of the most 
delightful reminiscences of my childhood. How 
well I remembered the venerable Bishop Cheverus 
and Dr. Matignon, and Fathers Taylor and Lar- 
rissey ! In those days these good men were held in 
such high esteem, that even Protestants used to visit 

(9) 



10 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



them ; and many a visit I paid, in company with my 
father and mother. Many a time, too, I went to 
Mass by invitation of Capt. Cazneau, and sat in 




•OVER 



FRANKLIN STREET CATHEDRAL. 



his pew, one of whose sons was a favorite play- 
mate and companion of mine. He was an " altar- 
boy." Oh, with what respect I gazed at him when 



INTRODUCTION. II 

he came forth from the sacristy in cassock, and 
surplice with ruffles round the neck ! or when he 
mounted the winding stair to the pulpit, with the 
large Gospel book in his hands, the upper part 
resting against his breast, and reverently laid it on 
the cushion, and then solemnly descended, and 
waited for the Bishop to ascend,, in order to preach 
to the throngs extending far out into the street. 

Many years had passed away; Bishop Cheverus, 
Dr. Matignon — all had died; and in 1840 I made 
there, before that altar, and that most devout paint- 
ing of the Crucifixion by Sargent, my abjuration, 
and was confirmed by Bishop Fenwick — the late 
Father Wiley, my guide, friend, and father, stand- 
ing by me as my sponsor. 

I travelled to Rome at that time as a pilgrim, 
that I might lay on the Tomb of the Apostles, and 
at the feet of the Holy Father, Gregory XVI., a 
votive offering of my life. 

My second trip was one of obedience and duty — 
it was in 1854. ^^ ^^^ *^ accompany Bishop John 



12 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

B. Fitzpatrick, my own revered and beloved 
Bishop, to the same Tomb of the Apostles, there to 
offer each our bouquet : the Bishop's fragrant with 
a glorious Episcopate of ten years, and mine full 
of gratitude for the unmerited mercies I had re- 
ceived, and for the peace and happiness I had 
enjoyed. 

This, my third, was one of business. I was 
commissioned by my Bishop, Rt. Rev. John J. 
Williams, to visit Ireland, England, and Belgium, 
in order to obtain, if possible, a community of 
" Brothers " to take charge of the House of the 
Angel Guardian, and at the same time to observe 
the general management of similar institutions in 
those countries. A much-esteemed reverend friend 
kindly accompanied me. 

Though we failed in obtaining "Brothers," as no 
community had any to spare, yet our journey was 
not unprofitable, as I think the patient reader will 
acknowledge. 



CHAPTER II. 



OVER THE WATER. 



TTZE embarked, April 15th, 1871, on board the 
Steamer City of Paris — Inman Line — a 
fine ship ; meals five times a day, and excellent. 
Captain Mirehouse, and other officers, were kind 
and aflTable. The ship rolled but little, and 
scarcely pitched at all, on account, perhaps, of her 
great length. Heavy gales, however, prevailed 
during a great part of the voyage. 

A fine-looking Englishman sat next us at table. 
He was chief constable of Rochdale, England. 
He had been to New York to arrest a man for 
embezzlement. He had his man safe on board, 
though he was not seen speaking to him. 

The prisoner was a good-looking, genteelly- 
dressed young man, of about twenty-two years. 

(13) 



14 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

He was in the first cabin, and associated freely 
with the passengers. He appeared cheerful and 
self-possessed, and no one would have supposed 
that he had any care or anxiety. 

We lost one passenger by death. It was an 
Irish lad, in consumption, without a friend or ac- 
quaintance on board. He was going home to die, 
as he hoped, in the arms of his mother. But 
alas ! his mother is waiting and watching in vain. 
His body has gone down deep into the sea ! 

We reached Queenstown at eight o'clock on 
Tuesday morning, April 25th, nine days and a 
half from Sandy Hook. A small steamer came 
alongside, and took us direct to Cork, 



CHAPTER III. 

CORK. 

TT ?"£ went to the Victoria Hotel. Mr. Wilson is 
the proprietor, and a very kind, agreeable, 
and obliging gentleman he is. Mr. Wilson at 
once introduced us to the Rev. Father McGuire, 
of Cork, brother to Hon. John F. McGuire, M.P., 
who happened to be in the spacious and ad- 
mirably conducted reading-room of the hotel. 

Father McGuire immediately proposed a ride. 
A carriage was ordered, and we drove about the 
beautiful city for hours. I had visited Cork in 
1854. How changed I Then, extreme poverty, 
squalor, misery, emaciation ; — barefooted women 
with scarcely a covering to gather about them, 
boys clothed in rags fastened together at their 
upper edges, like scales on fishes. 

(15) 



l6 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

These were the sad sights that met you at every 
turn. This was just after the famine, and pes- 
tilence, and exodus that desolated and devastated 
and decimated poor, faithful Ireland for so many 
cruel years. 

Thank God, His arms seem now raised to bless ! 
Cork, to-day, appears to be a rich and thriving 
city. We saw no signs of poverty, neither during 
our ride nor afterwards, on our frequent walks. 
Even the low tile-roofed houses along the narrow 
streets, and in and around " Old Market Place," 
once so poor and desolate, now lift up their heads, 
and send forth the gracefully-curling smoke from 
their chimney mouths, and tell of comfort and 
cheerfulness, and home beneath. The rosy and 
chubby-cheeked boys, and girls too, neatly dressed, 
make the welkin ring with their merry laugh and 
stunning shouts. We met no beggars — we saw 
no rags — no emaciated faces. Young and old 
appeared rugged and healthy. The youth espec- 
ially looked as though their fat cheeks had been 



CORK. 17 

painted with vermilion, so bright and fresh were 
the roses that bloomed upon them. 

However, to come down to prose, there is, no 
doubt, poverty enough in Cork — as well as every- 
where else — in its due proportion, and there ought 
to be ; for our Lord Himself has told us that we must 
always have the poor among us. Without recip- 
ients, where would be givers? Without poverty and 
suffering, where would be Charity? Without 
Charity, where would be Religion? where Sal- 
vation? Every other virtue, how sublime soever, 
even Faith, would be " sounding brass " without 
Charity. 

We visited the Cathedral Church, the same for 
which Fathers Buckley and Hagerty have been 
collecting money in the "States." It is an old 
building, not worthy of so fine and wealthy a city. 
The intention of the Bishop is, with the funds col- 
lected, to make an addition to it, and to repair 
and restore and improve the old portion. I fear 



1 8 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

that the Bishop will find that it will cost more, a 
great deal, than to erect a new cathedral. 

We visited several other churches, and were 
greatly surprised to find them so beautiful and 
massive, many of them far more so than any in 
New York or Boston : rich, indeed, in precious 
and highly-polished marbles. All these are built 
and paid for by the faithful of the city and 
suburbs. 

There is scarcely a debt on any church. A 
priest who has just completed a massive stone 
church, richly adorned with marbles and columns, 
informed us that he had collected for it £10,000, 
all in pennies — equal to $50,000! Individuals, 
also, have sent in their donations for the same ob- 
ject, in sums ranging all along from one pound to 
^ve thousand. Many also leave handsome legacies 
to their favorite church ; a legacy of £2,000 is by 
no means uncommon. That is the way things are 
done in Ireland, and that is the way that churches 
are built and paid for. Thank God, the light and 



CORK. 



19 



glory of the middle ages — the ages of Faith — 
have not been wholly withdrawn from the world, 
but that they still linger and shine over faithful 
Ireland ! 

The public buildings are extensive and elegant, 
and built of stone, like fortresses. From the hurry 
and bustle of the crowded streets, I should judge 
that business was very active. The principal 
streets are wide and straight, and remarkably 
clean ; they are lined on either side with hand- 
some stores and houses. Hackney-coaches, cabs, 
jaunting-cars, and teams of every sort and size, 
were rattling and rumbling ever, to and fro, keep- 
ing up an unintermittent roar. 

At my request, we called on an old and val- 
ued friend, whom I had not seen for many years — 

the Very Rev. Father M , P.P. ; however, 

before we leave our carriage, let me inform you 
how and when I first made the acquaintance of 
Father M . 

It was in 1841, the year of my first visit to 



20 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Rome. Travel, in those days, was not systematized 
as it now is ; so I went to New York to look about 
for means of conveyance over the seas. A friend 
accompanied me along the piers on North River ; 
presently we found a barque, The Bevis, bound to 
Marseilles, and to sail next day. Finding the cost 
very reasonable, my companion said : "If you will 
go, I will go with you." "I'll go," said I. Upon 
the word we booked for Marseilles. Returning to 
our hotel in high glee, I suddenly stopped, with 
clouded brow, and said to my friend, "But my 
funds are all in Boston ; what shall I do ? " I asked 
advice of a relative in New York, and he agreed 
to send for and forward to Marseilles my letter of 
credit by the next steamship, assuring me that it 
would be there before me. So we started off; but, 
to my dismay, in mid ocean we spoke a ship which 
informed us that the steamship President was 
probably lost. O, ho ! perhaps the steamer with 
all my funds aboard will be lost; what then? My 
companion left for Paris, and I waited in Mar- 



CORK. 21 

seillesfor sixweeks, calling frequently at my bankers. 
In vain — no funds ; they must have been sent on 
to Rome by mistake. Captain Briggs, of the 
barque, very kindly loaned me enough to take me 
to Rome, and he accepted an order on my father in 
Boston for the amount. Safe in Rome, and in a 
comfortable hotel, my first call was on Rev. Dr. 
Baggs, then Rector of the English College, to 
whom I had a letter of introduction from Bishop 
Fenwick. In Dr. Ba^fCfs's room I was introduced 

to Mr. M , who was not then an ecclesiastic, 

but a simple layman. Dr. Baggs invited us to join 
himself and Dr. Cullen, the present Cardinal, in a 
ride to the country-seat of the College. We of 
course accepted, and that is the way I became ac- 
quainted with Father M . From that day we 

became fast friends. Still, having no funds, I felt 
like an impostor, and thought of joining one of the 
mendicant orders, and walking the streets barefoot. 
On the evening of the same day I told my story 
to Mr. M , with a very long face. Instead, 



22 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

however, of turning from me in disgust, and say- 
ing, "A nice story that for a Yankee to tell," he 
burst into a laugh, and wished me to go with him 
to his rooms. When there he opened his port- 
manteau, and handed me a roll of Spanish milled 
dollars, bidding me to come for more if I wanted 
them ; but I did not want for more, for in a day 
or two my letter of credit reached me from Mar- 
seilles, where it had been all along. The only 
apology of the banker was the stupidity of a 
clerk. 

At that time Mr. M was forty-five years old. 

He had been a banker in Liverpool, wholly en- 
grossed in business, never married, when, one day 
passing a church, and hearing the organ, he en- 
tered. Just then the celebrant and acolytes were 
reciting, and the choir were singing, "Kyrie 
Eleison." By a sudden inspiration he saw the 
beauty of holiness before him ; he remembered the 
innocence of his childhood, when he, too, had been 
an acolyte, and he fell upon his knees and wept, 



CORK. 23 

£ind then and there resolved and promised to aban- 
don the world, and, if possible, to become a priest. 
He settled his affairs, and went to Rome, where I 
met him. 

Mr. M made his studies at the English College 

in Rome, and in due time was ordained priest, and has 
been parish priest in Cork for a quarter of a century. 

But here we are, sitting all this time patiently in 
our carriage. I dare say my readers are tired, so 
we will descend at once. 

''But I pray you," I said to Father McGuire, "do 
not announce my name ; simply say a friend has 
called on him." 

Father M looked at me for a moment, then 

called me by name, and throwing his arms around 
my neck, gave me the warmest and heartiest em- 
brace, and I returned it as warmly. Father M 

is a fine-looking, frank, tall, stout, independent speci- 
men of the good old Irish priest. He is now sev- 
enty-five years of age. We passed a delightful 
hour talkinfj over old reminiscences. 



24 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

We then drove to another quarter of the city 
quite different from Patrick Street ; yet it may be 
happier. This quarter was inhabited by the poor, 
and an old friend of mine, John Crowley, lived 
there, at No. 23 New Lane. He was a tailor, and an 
honest man, and a good Catholic. Twenty-three 
years ago his two sons emigrated to Boston. They 
were young men, who learned the printing trade, 
and I made their acquaintance. They obtained 
positions, and the old man heard of it. He wrote 
me several letters, and we have corresponded either 
by letter or by exchange of newspaper ever since. 
All these particulars I explained to my companions 
as we rode on. 

We soon reached the foot of the lane. It ran 
up a pretty steep hill ; but the lane was so 
narrow that we were obliged to descend and walk 
up to the house, which was at the top of the hill. 
We went in. The tailor's bench was there, but — 
it was empty. The "old woman's" arm-chair, that, 
too, was empty. A 3^oung woman sat by the win- 



CORK. 25 

dow, looking out; — she kept a little shop, for 
the sale of apples, cakes, etc. Father McGuire, 
who was the first to enter, said: "Eh, Kate, 
here's a priest from America come to see you ! " 
At that Kate sprang forward, exclaiming: "An* 
is it Father Haskins?" We were four, and I was 
greatly surprised that she should have singled 
me out, but she did. I visited her father seventeen 
years ago, and I presume she remembered me. 
Laughing and crying at the same time, she shouted : 
"Oh yes, it ts — it is Father Haskins" — pointing 
to me. Then wringing her hands and crying, 
and falling into a chair, and swaying her body 
back and forth, she said : " Oh, my poor father 
is dead ! He died last January. My mother, too, 
she is dead ! " 

Then she stood again, and looked at me, and 
laughed with jo}^ ; then sank into a chair, and 
buried her face in her apron. It was long before 
we could pacify her at all. At length, however, 



26 SIX WKEKS ABROAD. 

we did, when we promised to pray for the souls of 
her father and mother. 

When we had said " good-by," and left the 
house, Kate followed us, crying out to all the 
neighbors — " There he is. That is Father Haskins, 
from America." Children swarmed out of the 
houses ; men's and women's heads were thrust from 
all windows ; boys in crowds escorted us down the 
lane, Kate with them, ever crying out to everybody, 
" There he is — there he is ! " Poor Kate was proud 
as a queen. I never had such an ovation before in 
my life. I could have embraced them all as old 
and loved friends and parishioners. 

So my old friend John Crowley is no more ! 
Kequiescat in face. Amen. 

On our return, Father McGuire showed us some 
magnificent views of Cork. From a lofty terrace 
— I think it is that on which stands the convent of 
the Lazarists — a fine panorama of the city was 
unfolded in the form of a crescent, through which 
gracefully and irregularly permeated, like a thread 



CORK. 27 

of molten silver, the sparkling waters of the Lee. 
Vast buildings in stone, both public and private, 
loomed up prominent. Domes and steeples rose at 
intervals. There, too, plainly could be seen and 
heard the famous Shandon Bells, which brought to 
our minds the famous lines of Father Prout : 



" On this I ponder, where'er I wander, 
And thus grow fonder, 
Sweet Cork, of thee, 
With th}' bells of Shandon, 
That sound so grand on 

The pleasant waters of the River Lee." 

As the crescent, tapered to its points we could 
discern, and almost envy, the plain and simple 
dwellings of the poor — the truly happy homes of 
the Irish. 

What, after all, are these costly palaces, these tall 
and massive buildings, filled with luxuries — abodes 
of pride, sleep by day, gaslight by night — com- 
pared with the tiled or thatched cottage of the 



28 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

poor? In which, when all is over, will have been 
found the longest sum of happiness, of innocence, 
of love? The background of the panorama con- 
sisted of undulating hills, with the greenest of fields 
and slopes. 

We returned to the "Victoria," much pleased 
with our ride and adventures. 

In St. Mary's Church a Spiritual Retreat was 
going on for young men. This was the second 
day of the Retreat. The church is large, lofty, 
and richly ornamented. It was filled, and with 
men only — filled from altar to porch. What 
surprised us was that these men did not seem to be 
of the poorer classes, though the poor were of 
course among them. In their dress and bearing 
nearly all appeared to be men of means and men 
of culture. Father Bourke was the preacher. He 
has a high reputation as a preacher and an orator. 
His discourse was upon mortal sin, and was very 
impressive and simple, as though his whole heart 
was in it. 



CHAPTER IV. 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 



"KJEXT day we visited the celebrated Reformatory 
at Upton, County of Cork. It is not far 
distant from the city. It is conducted by fathers 
and brothers of the " Order of Charity." The 
Father-General resides in Rome. The Father- 
Rector was absent, being ill. The Yice-Rector, 
Rev. Joseph Ryan, received us most kindly, and 
showed us the establishment. 

The present number of boys is 211. The 
officers in charge are, 

Two Priests, 

Ten Brothers, 

Eight Secuhirs, paid. 

One Dairy Woman, " 

One Band Master, '* 

Twenty-two persons in all. 

(29) 



30 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



This is an Industrial School, where the inmates 
are taught somewhat in trades. 

These Industrial Schools create at present quite 
an excitement among the "Philanthropists." 




ST. PATRICK'S REFORMATORY SCHOOL, UPTON, COUNTY CORK. 

There are many in operation both in Ireland and 
England. 

That which gave them their first great start was 
an Act of Parliament recently passed (31 Vic. 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 3I 

Cap. 25.) By this Act, if any individual or 
association shall furnish buildings, out-houses, 
lands, etc., satisfactory to the Government Inspec- 
tor, with intent to furnish homes and schools for 
destitute or wayw^ard youth of either sex, then shall 
the Government take such schools under its protec- 
tion, and authorize the guardians of the poor, and 
also magistrates, to send to such Institutions or 
Homes any children considered as proper subjects 
for them. 

When children are committed by magistrates, it 
is usually for a term of from three to five years. 
However, for exemplary conduct the time is often 
abridged one-half, at the discretion of the man- 
agers. 

To support these schools. Government pays to 
the managers six shillings a week for each in- 
mate, and the county authorities, called, I believe, 
the Grand Jury, pay two shillings a week more — 
eight shillings a week in all — equal to two dollars 
a week in gold for every child. Now this is a 



32 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

great deal, especially when we consider that a 
shilling or two here will buy as much as a dollar 
will in the United States. 

The State interferes in no way with the manage- 
ment of the House, or with the instruction of the 
children. The Government Inspector, who is as 
likely to be a Catholic as a Protestant, visits each 
school once or twice a year, and makes his report. 

The States reason thus: "If you, gentlemen, 
will purchase or lease suitable lands, and will 
erect thereon buildings satisfactory to our Inspec- 
tor, we will pay you, for the support of each inmate, 
the amount per week or per year that it would 
cost us in our public institutions. And the chil- 
dren must be instructed in letters and in useful 
occupations." 

What can be more liberal, what more fair, what 
more in accordance with plain common sense, and 
with the truest principles of an enlightened polit- 
ical economy, than this? The advantages being 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 33 

equally and impartially extended to every sect, 
and to every sort of religious belief. 

Some may fear that this system would cramp the 
hands of individual beneficence, but it is not so ; 
on the contrary, it expands them. Gold pours in 
without grudge or limit, because the gift is free, 
and not a tax wrung out by law. 

Now to return to St. Patrick's Reformatory, 
Upton : the grounds cover an area of one hun- 
dred and ten acres. Vegetables and grain are 
cultivated. Forty boys were in one field, making 
furrows and planting seeds. They were divided 
into two companies, a man overseeing each com- 
pany. The boys on the farm were small, not 
exceeding thirteen or fourteen years. Each com- 
pany worked in a line, like a section of soldiers 
opened at arms' length. Each boy stood in his fur- 
row, and moved backward as he worked, so that 
the line was not broken. The officer directing the 
companies did not work. The land is rich, and 
the boys did a deal of work that day. 

3 



34 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

One potato-patch of fourteen acres yields, -every 
year, five tons to the acre — -seventy tons of potatoes. 
In the stable were fourteen cows and four horses. 
The dairy was charming ; everything as clean and 
sweet as the new warm milk, unknown to water, 
in wide, deep pans, which shone like the sun, on 
white deal shelves, all around the dairy. The 
building covers three sides of a quadrangle two 
hundred feet by one hundred and eighty feet. 

Rewards for good behavior are generally given 
in money — a few pence a month — which the boys 
can spend, or leave in the hands of the Superior, at 
their option. Good boys are allow^ed, at times, to 
visit their families and friends, but only for a day. 
As to punishments, — for small offences, the rattan on 
hand is used ; for eloping, cropping the hair 
close. 

The dormitories are clean, but water-closets in 
or near them would, I think, improve the state of 
the air. Neat check spreads covered the beds, 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 35 

which were put on in the morning and removed at 
night. 

The trades taught are tailoring, carpentry, 
shoemaking and farming. In the shops there 
were from twenty to thirty boys at work. They 
were very small boys. We were shown specimens 
of their work, which were very good. Several 
were running sewing-machines. 

The whole number of boys at the time of our 
visit, was two hundred and eleven. There are tvs^o 
school sessions every day. The boys who work 
forenoons attend school afternoons, and vice versa. 

We inquired particularly as to the profits accru- 
ing from the labor of the boys. Father Ryan 
stated that the pecuniary profit was, on the whole, 
of no account. He said that some years would 
show a small balance in favor of the workshops, 
and other years a deficit. The master mechanics, 
or, as we should call them, the bosses, have to be 
paid full as much as they could earn outside ; and 
there is always more or less waste and destruction 



36 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



of tools and stock ; sometimes accidental, sometimes 
malicious. 

I have before me the printed Report of the Direc- 
tors for 1870-71, in which it is stated that the 
number of boys employed were as follows : 



Farmers . . * . . • 


114 


Carpenters 


7 


Tailors 


26 


Shoemakers 


.- 27 


Bakers 


3 


Ostlers 


5 


Farm-yard boys • • • . 


10 


Laundry " 


6 


House " . . • . 


15 



213 



Now the financial report gives, as the result of 
the toil of this long array of laborers, the total net 
receipts of the industrial department as £76 105. 
6^., equivalent to little more than $370. 

After careful inquiries made, and candidly replied 
to, I am convinced that the industrial department 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 37 

interferes much with the education of the boys, by 
keeping them one-half of each day from school. 

Moreover, the long sentences compel the man- 
agers, for years, to refuse new applicants for want 
of room. The chief advantage derived from the 
labor of the boys is, after all, that it keeps them 
busy ; and that is a great deal. They acquire 
habits of industry, and a dread of idleness, that 
is of immense advantage to them in after-life, al- 
though very few of them ever follow the trades 
taught in the school. It is so everywhere. While 
I was Superintendent of the House of Reformation 
and the Boylston Asylum, both City Institutions of 
Boston, the boys were instructed in various trades ; 
among others, in shoemaking, hat-making, brass- 
nail-making, and gardening. During the ten 
years that I was connected with those institutions 
in one capacity or another, I must have known at 
least two thousand boj^s ; I have met many of 
them since, but I never knew or heard of one that 



38 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

followed, or even tried to follow the trade or occupa- 
tion that he was taught in the institution. I 
shall not undertake to assign reasons for this. I 
only state what I believe to be the truth, and what 
has been told me for truth. 

The managers do not exert themselves to find 
places for the boys near home, but send them off 
to all parts of the world. Many have been shipped 
to New York, and left there in the streets to seek 
employment. 

For breakfast, the boys have bread without but- 
ter, and coffee ; for supper, bread and tea. Two 
mornings and two evenings every week they 
have oatmeal stirabout instead. For dinner, soup, 
potatoes and bread ; on Sunday, meat. The 
boys all looked healthy and robust. 

Father Ryan kindly invited us to dinner, during 
which we were entertained with music by the 
boys' band, numbering sixteen brass instruments, 
and accompanied by a fife-band, with drums and 



UPTON REFORMATORY. 



39 



piccolos. They were directed by one of the boys, 
the band-master being absent. They played, among 
other tunes, "You'll not forget me, Mother," " Come 
back to Erin," "Evening Bell," and "Norma." 
We called for "Yankee Doodle," but they did not 
know it. The playing of the band was very credit- 
able to their teacher and to themselves. 

After dinner, we went out on the piazza and 
addressed the boys, thanking them for the treat 
they had given us, and the compliment they 
had paid us. I told them of the House of 
the Angel Guardian in Boston, and of our band, 
and how much I felt at home among them^ though 
three thousand miles away. With that the boys 
threw up their caps, and gave us three times three 
cheers, — no tiger; they had not yet learned 
that. Then the band escorted us to the railroad 
station, going before us and playing, as they 
marched with measured tread, and continuing to 
play on the platform till the arrival of the train, 



40 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

gathering all bystanders about us. Father Ryan 
and the Chief Prefect accompanied us. On the 
platform short speeches were made, and then — 
" Good-by, boys ; God bless you all ! " " Good- 
by, sir ! " I really felt lonesome at parting with 
them ; it was like leaving home again. 



CHAPTER V. 



AN ADVENTURE. 



TN the course of ^ the day we made a visit to 
Father Holland, the parish priest of Upton. 
As we approached the gate of his residence we 
saw approaching us a "jaunting-car," with a priest 
on one seat and a driver on the other, to balance the 
car. Two small dogs ran forward to warn us not 
to advance, and by furious barking demanded our 
business at that gate. 

We replied, as well as we could in their language, 
that we were honest people, and wanted to see their 
master. At once they ceased barking, and ran 
back to tell the priest; whereupon his Reverence 
ordered the driver to stop, which he did. We 
then informed him who we were ; that we were 
American priests on a visit to the Upton School. 

(41) 



42 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

We held our hats, which were of a kind that we 
Yankees call soft hats, in our hands. The 
good priest looked on us, and then on our hats, 
alternately : " Is it possible that you are priests? I 
could hardly believe it, with such hats, I saw you 
coming down the road, but I supposed that you 
were brothers from the school, in disguise, and had 
thought to report you to Father Ryan." 

However, we showed our letters, and seeing 
that we were " all right," he jumped from the 
jaunting-car, shook us warmly by the hand, 
insisted on our going to his house, and walked with 
us along the neatly trimmed and shady drive-way, 
till we reached his door. 

After some minutes of very agreeable conversa- 
tion he ordered refreshments, and treated us with 
the kindest hospitality, and accompanied us back to 
the school ; the two dogs, now great friends of ours, 
running before and barking gladly all the way. 



CHAPTER VI. 



DUBLIN. 



/^N April 27, we left Cork with regret, and bade 
good-by to our friend Mr. Wilson, of the 
Victoria Hotel. Duty called on us to hasten. 

We are now on the road to Dublin. Five hours 
from Cork to Dublin. Though the train shoots 
swiftly in a direct line, and not through chosen 
parks, the ride is delightful: greenest of fields, 
herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, parks of deer, 
crows and rooks innumerable, barn-yard fowls, 
cottages and villas, hills, valleys and mountains, 
lakes and rivers, castles and round towers; these 
are the sights that present themselves all along the 
road. 

Arrived at Dublin, we took up our quarters at 

(43) 



44 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



the Gresham Hotel, Sackville Street, where we 
were very comfortably lodged. 

Next day, April 28, after having assisted at 
Mass in the Church of the Jesuits, Upper Gardiner 
Street, and breathed a prayer for the repose of the 
soul of my former father and kind friend Father 
Esmonde, S.J., whom I knew in Rome in i84i,and 
who died here only a few years ago, we visited 
the Industrial School at Artane, County Dublin. 

This school is — like that of Upton — under the 
patronage of Government, and is managed by the 
" Christian Brothers of Ireland," sometimes called 
"The Order of Charity.'' It was first opened in 
July 1870. In November of the same year it was 
found that the buildings which had been tempora- 
rily erected were altogether insufficient ; and that, 
unless commodious and substantial buildings 
should be erected, the statute for its support must 
remain a dead letter. 

In the emergency, a public meeting was called 
on November i, 1870, by the Right Hon. Edward 



DUBLIN. 45 

Purdon, Lord Mayor of Dublin. The meeting 
was held in the Rotunda. Its object, "To adopt 
measures for raising funds sufficient to erect suit- 
able buildings for the Artane Industrial School." 
It was a proud occasion. The Rotunda is situated 
at the corner of Rutland Square and Sackville 
Street. The large hall in which the meeting was 
held was filled with the most eminent citizens of 
every political party, and of every religious belief. 
A committee of thirty-seven gentlemen was ap- 
pointed to solicit subscriptions, the majority con- 
sisting of Magistrates, Baronets, Members of 
Parliament, and distinguished Barristers. ■ 

Addresses were made, and Resolutions presented, 
by the Lord Mayor-elect, J. B. Murphy, Esq., 
Q^C, Sir John Bradstreet, Bart., Jonathan Pim, 
Esq., M.P., Rev. Mr. Fanning, of London, Sir 
Dominick Corrigan, M.P., Alderman Campbell, 
and others. 

These gentlemen eloquently advocated the cause 
of the homeless and wayward boys, and as 



46 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

strongly insisted on the importance and necessity 
of denominational asylums. 

The idea of a Christian charitable institution, 
where no religion is taught or where all religions 
are taught, was, by the honorable speakers, consid- 
ered too absurd and impious to be entertained foi 
a moment by any one who believes at all in 
Christianity. 

Mr. Pim, M.P., said: "Though there may be 
differences of opinion as to whether day schools 
should be denominational or not, I am not aware 
that there is the slightest difference of opinion, as 
regards the Industrial and Reformatory Schools, 
that they ought to be denominational, and con- 
ducted under a religious sanction, and managed by 
persons holding the same views as those placed 
under them. A true regard to our own interests 
as members of the community, and the knowl- 
edge that in supporting these schools we are re- 
lieving the public from a very heavy expense, is an 
important element to be considered; for, unless 



DUBLIN. 47 

these young children are properly taught now, we 
can anticipate nothing for them but that if they do 
not learn something that is useful, they will learn 
something that is bad. Therefore I, as a Protes- 
tant, have very great pleasure in attending here 
upon this occasion, and in doing anything that I 
can to forward the institution which it is proposed 
to build." 

Such are the sentiments of a Protestant member 
of Parliament, boldly and publicly expressed. 
What American statesman of this day would have 
had the courage to talk thus to a mixed audience 
vnfree America? To tell them that all the Indus- 
trial and Reformatory Schools in the country ought 
to be denominational or sectarian? And yet, after 
all, when we look at it calml}^ it is the only true, 
wise, and common-sense policy ; that is, for a 
people who attach any importance to religion and 
morals. 

Without religion, any people would relapse into 
barbarism or atheism ; without morals, into a pan- 



48 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

demonium ; but to implant religion in the young, 
and to expect its fruits, we ought to have denom- 
inational schools, where children can be governed 
and taught, as Mr. Pim says, by persons of the 
same belief with themselves. Any religion is bet- 
ter than none ; to hold to so7iie divine truths is bet- 
ter than to reject all. 

The American people are a reflecting and a log- 
ical people ; they have intelligence and good 
sense, and have generally more or less of a good 
education from books. To the judgment of such a 
people we may safely appeal. Is it not evident 
that a strictly moral and religious training of the 
youth of our country is of the utmost importance ? 
What guarantee have we for the permanency of 
our free institutions, and for "the pursuit of hap- 
piness," for our social, religious, and material ad- 
vancement and prosperity, but in the good sense 
and moral power of a wisely-educated people? 
Now no people can be wisely educated if the ex- 
istence of God and the sanctions of religion be 



DUBLIN. 49 

ignored. No Christian people can be wisely edu- 
cated if Christianity be ignored. 

The grand cause of the remarkable prosperity 
and vigor and grandeur of this country has been 
its worship of God and His Son, and its respect for 
what it has retained of Christian doctrine and in- 
stinct. Take these away, and what can be expected 
but the utter loss of conscience and principle, — a 
godless government, a godless people : commu- 
nism, incendiarism, murder and assassination ! 

All the abominations of the first atheistic rev- 
olution in France, when, for the first and only time 
in the history of the world, it was voted in a Na- 
tional Assembly that there was no God — all 
the atrocities and horrors of the late Communistic 
Revolution in Paris — are to be ascribed to the lack 
of moral and religious instruction and training of 
the youth. Had these men, when boys, been 
taught to shudder at crime and to shun evil, to 
honor and obey their parents, pastors, and other 
superiors, such horrors and atrocities could never 

4 



^O SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

have been, and such revolutions would have been 
simply impossible. 

The great safeguard of our country is, and ever 
will be, its conscience and its morality. All teach- 
ings and doctrines which invade the sanctity of 
conscience and religious instinct, must soon find a 
most terrible expression in the degradation and 
ruin of our country. Hence the importance of 
wisely educating our people cannot be exagger- 
ated. 

True wisdom is religion, A man may have all 
knowledge, and even all faith, and yet, in true 
wisdom, be a fool, — " Sounding brass and a tink- 
ling cymbal." St. James says that "the wisdom 
from above is chaste, peaceable, modest, full of 
good fruits and without hypocrisy." — (Chap. iii. 

But to return from this digression : the result of 
the meeting was a subscription on the spot of 
£i,ioo, or $5,500. In a few weeks enough more 



DUBLIN. 51 

was collected to enable the managers to erect the 
buildings and -pay for them. 

At the present time the number of inmates is 
two hundred and seven ; ages from six to fourteen. 
All are committed by magistrates, not as criminals, 
but as vagrants, mendicants, homeless, wanderers, 
etc. The term of sentence is from two to six years, 
at the discretion of the macjistrate. 

The staff of officers consists of ^ — 

Lay Brothers .... 5 

School Brothers .... 5 

Hired men .... 3 

Wives of hired men ... 3 

The new building, three hundred feet long, is 
finished and occupied. The grounds on which it 
stands extend over sixty acres, all under close cul- 
tivation, — an area as large as Boston Common. 

The boys were occupied with sewing, shoemak- 
ing, farming, and housework. I asked the Brother 
Superior whether the labor were found to be profit- 



52 SIX WEEKS ABROAD, 

able, and he replied, "No, not profitable in a 
money point of view, but it keeps the boys occu- 
pied, and accustoms them to work ; and then field 
work is good for health, and labor at trades is ex- 
pected by the friends and patrons of the school." 

The punishments inflicted are,- — Slapping on the 
hand with a ferule, solitary confinement for hours, 
and even days, and, though rarely, flogging. 

The rewards are, — Curtailment of sentence, occa- 
sional leave of absence, and pecuniary compensa- 
tion for work well done. The compensation is 
from sixpence to a shilling a week ; this money 
can be spent by the boys, or they can leave it with 
one of the Brothers, subject to their order. 

At meals : For breakfast, bread and cocoa — one- 
third of a two-pound loaf to each boy — no butter. 
For dinner : One half-pound of beef on three days 
in the week, with a quarter-pound of potatoes and 
cabbage ; other days, soup or fish. For supper : 
Same as morning. 

The boys have a brass band, trained by one of 



DUBLIN. , 53 

the Brothers ; they played some difficult music, and 
played it well. The Brother Superior remarked 
that he had been the first to introduce boys' bands 
into Irish institutions ; that was seven years ago. 
I could have told him that ten years before that 
time the band and choir of the House of the An- 
gel Guardian, of Boston, gave a public exhibition 
in Tremont Temple to a crowded and enthusiastic 
audience, composed of Catholics and Protestants, 
and many of our most distinguished citizens. 

We also visited the College of All Hallows, 
founded by the Rev. Mr. Hand, whose acquaint- 
ance I made in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Paris, 
in 1843. The Rev. Dr. Fortune, present Supe- 
rior, conducted us through the spacious and beauti- 
ful buildinofs. 

Next we visited the celebrated Cemetery of 
Glasnevin, which is indeed beautiful, and is kept in 
perfect order. There stands O'Connell's mon- 
ument; a monument like himself — the only one 
truly worthy of that great and good man — a mon- 



54 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



ument which, without a chiselled letter upon it, 
announces the deeds and the sacrifices of his life, 
the fervor and strength of his faith, the purity of 




o'connell's monument in glasnevin cemetery. 

his character : a round tower of Ireland a hundred 
and sixty feet high. 



DUBLIN. ^ 55 

Close to the Round Tower, or monument, is the 
crypt where Daniel O'Connell lies buried. We 
descended to the crypt, and prayed there for the 
repose of his soul ; so did the policeman, our guide. 
The bodies of O'Connell's two sons, John and 
Maurice, lie in an adjoining crypt, separated from 
their father only by an open screen of iron. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PHCENIX PARK. 



A F*TER visiting the tomb of O'Connell, we took 
a ride through Phoenix Park. It covers 1,750 
acres of ground, well ornamented with trees and 
shrubs. Groves and dales, hills and lawns, riv- 
ulets and lakes abound. The park is laid out ar- 
tistically, evidently under the direction of a skilful 
horticultural architect. On the lawns were numer- 
ous deer grazing in herds, from thirty to a hundred 
in a herd, many with enormous antlers. They 
were very tame, and would cross the drive-way 
without feai% and feed from the hands of the 
visitors. 

This is, I think, the largest public park I have 
ever seen. Hyde Park, London, covers only four 
hundred acres ; Regenf s Park about the same, and 

(56) 



PHCENIX PARK. 57 

Central Park, New York, nine hundred and 

sixty. 




THE CHURCH OF ST. DOULOUGH, NEAR DUBLIN. 

On Saturday, the 29th, \ve celebrated Mass in 
Upper Gardiner Street, at the Church of the Jesuit 



58 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Fathers. We then visited the Four Courts and the 
University. The latter has a valuable library of 
25,00 volumes, mostly given by Dr. Newman. 
The chapel is gothic, richly illuminated, and ve- 
neered with beautiful Irish marbles, equal to some 
of those most prized in Italy. 

The Church of St. Doulough (p. 57), the origin 
of which is involved in the deepest obscurity, is the 
most remarkable and unique example of pointed 
architecture remaining in Ireland. It stands at a 
distance of about four miles from Dublin, in the 
direction of Malahide, and has long occupied the 
attention of writers upon the subject of Irish an- 
tiquities. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL. 

TN the afternoon we visited the Hibernian Mil- 
itary School in Phoenix Park. This is a Gov- 
ernment training-school for boys whose fathers have 
been killed or disabled in battle. 

I asked for Quartermaster Hyder, to whom I 
had brought a letter of introduction from a friend 
of his in Boston. Before opening the letter, Mr. 
Hyder asked me if I was Father Haskins. He 
had received a letter from his friend in Boston in- 
forming him of our intended visit. 

At once we became friends, and he conducted 
us to his quarters, which were nicely furnished. 
We were introduced to his wife and daughters. 
Quartermaster Hyder is a fine, gentlemanly, ac- 
tive old English soldier, sixty-nine years of age. 

(59) 



6o SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

He was himself trained in this school, having en- 
tered it in 1809, at the age of seven years. 

On a tablet of white marble, in a conspicuous 
position in a spacious hall, are inscribed the names 
of all the present officers. Quartermaster Hyder's 
name is followed by a high eulogium upon his 
character and services. 

The number of boys in the school at present is 
four hundred and ten ; ages from seven to fourteen. 
The buildings are vast and commodious, all of 
blocks of stone. The interior is, throughout, a pat- 
tern of neatness and comfort. It was really a treat 
to visit the kitchen, which was — walls, furniture, 
and floor — clean and polished as a mirror. The 
bread was piled in stacks, and was very white and 
sweet ; it is not baked in the house, but is furnished 
by contract. 

The kitchen-range is a French patent. With but 
one grate fire, apparently of the usual size, it heats 
many ovens, where all the meat is roasted, and also 
a row of six large boilers, on one side of the 



HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL. 6l 

kitchen, in which the soup, vegetables, tea, coffee, 
etc., are boiled. On another side of the kitchen is 
a commodious wooden rack, in which the dinner- 
plates, when washed, are stood on their edges like 
books in a library. 

The large refectory was in excellent order ; the 
tables were very clean, without spot or stain ; the 
floor was so smooth with polish that we had to 
walk with care. Grace before meals, and thanks 
after, are recited by one of the boys, from a pulpit 
or reading-desk. 

We remarked the same neatness ever}^ where. 
The beds in the dormitories are not made during 
the day, as we understand bed-making ; it being a 
military school, things are done in a military way : 
each boy has to arrange his own bed, and that 
by rule, and with soldierly precision. The bed- 
steads are of iron ; each is furnished with two 
mattresses, one filled with straw, the other with 
cotton-wool. Two heavy army-blankets, and two 
sheets, white as snow^ are on each bed. During 



62 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

the day the lower, or straw, mattress is extended 
on each bedstead ; the upper, or cotton one, is neatly 
folded into a sort of roll, and laid at the bed's head ; 
on that the blankets and sheets are laid, folded ; on 
retiring, at a given signal, each boy prep-ares his 
bed for sleeping. Over the head of each bed is a 
nice shelf. On each shelf is a knapsack, black and 
shining as though new ; on each knapsack the boy's 
number ; in it he is supposed to keep his traps. 

The bath-room is the best that I have seen. 
The size of the room is about fifty feet by forty, and 
some twenty feet in height, lighted from above. 
In this room a huge tank is sunk, or rather built 
of brick, laid in cement. This tank is eight feet 
deep at one end, and considerably less at the other ; 
it is thirty feet in length, by twenty wide. There is 
a standing or walking platform, about ten feet in 
width, all round this tank, from which the boys 
plunge ; at one end is an inclined plane for small 
boys to wade. We found the tank about half full 
of tepid water, heated by steam. Towels, very 



HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL. 63 

white, hung round the walls on pegs, each num- 
bered, and a corresponding number over the pegs, 
so that every boy knows his own. The boys bathe 
here three times a week, one half at a time, on al- 
ternate days. J^o bathing on Sunday. 

The morning wash-room is of about the same 
dimensions ; it is surrounded with troughs, in which 
are placed metallic basins, and over each basin a 
brass faucet, to draw water from a pipe' passing 
over the troughs and attached to the walls. 

The dress of the boys is a blue tunic, or loose 
coat, light pants, and white cap. When they go 
to the city they doff their tunic. and don a bright 
red jacket, given by the Quartermaster on show- 
ing their pass. 

The boys were on holiday, so we could not wit- 
ness the drill, nor hear their band of thirty pieces ; 
however, we saw the boys at play. Their play- 
ground is the finest in the world — the park itself. 
There they were in all directions, leaping, runnitig, 
and playing ball among the deer — and lively and 



64 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

happy as they. They were as fine, handsome, 
and healthy a set of boys as one would want to see. 

Separated from the main building are two gothic 
gems of chapels ; one is for the Catholic boys, the 
other for Protestants. 

There is a Catholic and a Protestant chaplain, 
both paid equally by the Government. The Cath- 
olic chaplain visits every Monday, Wednesday, and 
Saturday, to teach catechism and hear confessions ; 
on Sundays he celebrates Mass, and preaches. 

Mark that! Is not that liberality, wisdom, jus- 
tice ^ on the part of the English Government? 
How long will it be before the American Congress 
will enact a law requiring the employment of paid 
Roman Catholic chaplains in her arsenals, navy 
yards, military schools, etc.? 

The only holidays are Saturday afternoon, a 
week at Easter, three weeks in summer, and tv/o 
weeks at Christmas. 

Since the above was in type, I have received a 



HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL. 65 

very welcome letter from Quartermaster Thomas 
Hyder. The following extracts will be found in- 
teresting to many : — 

4« ♦ ♦ * J shall now proceed, to the best of my ability, to 
give you a brief sketch of the origin and objects of this Insti- 
tution. 

"It was founded in the year 1764, by public subscription, for 
the purpose of providing for and educating the orphans of sol- 
diers. It was also supported from the same source until 1S32 or 
1S34. Since then it has been maintained by an annual grant 
from Parliament, sufficient to rear and educate the boys in a su- 
perior manner. The school at present maintains four hundred 
and ten boys. They are admitted at the age of seven 3'ears. 
They attend worship in the Catholic or Protestant chapel, ac- 
cording as their fathers were of the one or the other religion. 
They are expected to join the Army at the age of fourteen, but are 
not forced. Their friends are at liberty to withdraw them at any 
time, provided they have means to support them. Very few, 
however, avail themselves of this privilege, so small is the num- 
ber of boys who have any taste for civil life, their training having 
been wholly of a military character. The boys are divided into 
six companies, each company being in charge of a sergeant who 
has retired from the Army. 

*'In summer, first drum beats at 5.30 A. m. In winter, at 6 



66 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

A.M., when all rise, dress, and arrange beds. Morning prayers are 
said in plaj-rooms, according to their respective creeds. After 
prayers, one-half are marched to the bathing-room, while the 
other half go to the wash-rooms, each boy using his own basin, 
soap, water and towel. Then drill and inspection by com- 
panies. 

"Breakfast at 8 o'clock — Haifa pound of bread, and three- 
fourths of a pint of milk, to each. Supper, the same. In winter, 
the milk is warmed. After breakfast, recreation in play-ground, 
where there are two ball alleys, a gymnasium, and three fly- 
poles. In summer, they play in the park. 

"The boys' band consists of thirty pieces. 

"Wednesday and Saturday mornings are devoted to the relig- 
ious instruction of the boys by their respective clergymen. 

" There is a good library, well supplied with books ; a fine 
hospital, a resident physician, and an excellent laundry, where 
the washing, etc., of clothes is done twice a week — the boys 
changing their linen every Sunday and Thui-sday. 

"I must now try to give some account of our kitchen-range. The 
entire cost, put up complete, was not less than £300. There are two 
large ovens on each side of the fire-grate, which will bake meat 
and potatoes for four hundred boys in four or five hours. The 
cook tells me he can bake 30 stone of potatoes and 170 pounds 
of beef in the oven at once. 

'* There are six boilers. The one fire will, if required, bake, 
boil, roast, warm and steam water at the same time. Tlie cook 



HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL. 67 

also tells me he could provide dinner for 1,200 men, besides any 
amount of made dishes on the top of the ovens. The consump- 
tion of coal per week is about one ton and a quarter. The one 
fire will keep the ovens and the six boilers going at the same 
time. The boilers are steamed by pipes." 



CHAPTER IX. 



EMIGRANTS. 



A T seven o'clock, p.m., we embarked on board 

Steamer Longford^ for Liverpool. We stood 

for a long time on the forward deck, amid a crowd 

of emigrants bound for the United States. A 

crowd still greater stood upon the pier. 

It was very touching indeed to witness the sor- 
rowful partings, the repeated good-bys, and the 
silent but most expressive raising of the arms and 
eyes heavenward, and then the clasping and wring- 
ing of hands. A widow-mother shouted to her brave, 
stalwart son : " Oh, Jimmy, darling, are you going 
to leave your desolate mother? And is it across 
the ocean you are going? Oh, Jimmy, dear, come 
back to me soon, or send for me to go out to you 
there ! " "I will, mother, never fear ! " 

(68) 



EMIGRANTS. 69 

Two small singing-boys stood on the pier, and 
sang very prettily ; among other songs they sang 
"Erin is my Home," and "Come back to Erin." 
They received, in return, from the steamer, showers 
of pennies. But when at last the signal was given 
to cast off, oh, what shouts arose from boat to pier 
and from pier to boat ! what clouds of white hand- 
kerchiefs waved in the air above the heads of the 
people ! and what wails, and sobs, and moans ! 



CHAPTER X. 



LIVERPOOL. 



/^N Tuesday, May 2, with a smooth run, we 
reached Liverpool at seven o'clock, a.m., and 
took rooms at the North-Western Hotel. After 
breakfast we called on Rt. Rev. Bishop Goss, 
whose acquaintance I had made in 1840, at the 
English College in Rome. The Bishop's residence 
is at St. Edmand's College. His Lordship was 
out of town, but we were kindly received and en- 
tertained by hisVery Rev. Vicar-General, Dr. Fisher. 
The doctor gave us a guide — one of the students, 
Clarkson — and he conducted us to St. Joseph's 
Orphanage. This is an Industrial School for small fl{ 
boys, under charge of Sisters of Charity. And yet 
we saw several of them that must have numbered 
fifteen or sixteen years. Here we found two hun- 

(70) 



LIVERPOOL. 71 

dred and ten boys, some working at tailoring, shoe- 
making, sewing, with and without machines, 
housework, etc. Others were in school ; the 
schools were not as orderly as could be wished. 

Our guide then conducted us to St. George's 
Industrial Orphanage. This is a school for larger 
boys, under the charge of lay-persons. The Prin- 
cipal is Mr. Edward Gray, with the title of Gov- 
ernor. Here are two hundred and forty boys, 
committed by magistrates for vagrancy and smaller 
offences, and supported under the Act of Parliament 
before alluded to ; as are, in fact, all the private 
Orphan and Industrial Schools in Great Britain. 

These boys are employed in tailoring, shoemak- 
ing, washing, wringing out clothes, and drying 
them by steam, etc. The house was not clean; 
unpleasant odors everywhere ; boys running about 
in all the rooms and corridors. The staff of officers, 
eleven men. A year ago the institution was under 
charge of Christian Brothers ; for some reason 



72 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



11 



which we did not ascertain, it was thought best to 
make a change ; the Brothers were sent away, and 
Laics took their place. During the transition, 
eighty boys eloped. 

Next we visited St. Anne's Boys' Refuge. The 
number of boys is one hundred and fifty-nine. 
The trades taught are shoemaking, tailoring, car- 
pentering, paper-bag making, and lithography. 
The boys rise at six, and have four hours of school 
and five hours of work every day. Breakfast — 
Bread and cocoa. Dinner — Soup, potatoes, and 
bread. Supper — Bread and Tea. 

This institution was founded by the Rev. James 
Nugent, a zealous and much-respected Catholic 
clergyman of Liverpool. It is under the patron- 
age of an "Association of Providence for the Pro- 
tection of Orphan and Destitute Boys." Father 
Nugent is President, and the managers are " Broth- 
ers of the Christian Schools." 

The institution has two departments, — a Refuge 
and a Night Asylum. The one is permanent, 



J 



LIVERPOOL. 73 

where trades are taught and instruction given ; the 
other is transient. At present, for want of accom- 
modations, all are in one building, and under the 
same general rule. The average number of out- 
door boys attending day and night-schools through- 
out the year, and receiving food, is twenty-four. 

The present land and buildings were purchased 
in 1869; they are in St. Anne Street. After 
having undergone the necessary alterations, the 
Refuge was formally opened in July of that year. 
The managers, however, in their Report, say — 
and very justly, too — "that there is one branch of 
their work that requires development " ; though this 
word is hardly strong enough. This is the depart- 
ment of casual applicants for the day and night- 
schools. Children of this class, fresh from the 
streets, adepts in crime, unclean within and with- 
out, " have to be gradually weaned from vicious 
and irregular habits ; and, as this is a work of 
time, it is of the greatest importance, when good 
impressions have been made, to make sure that 



74 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

these impressions be lasting. To secure this, it is 
necessar}^ to separate, as much as possible, the 
permanent from the casual inmates ; as frequently 
these last, by their bad example, may undo the 
work of months, or even years." — Report of iS^o, 

For this reason it is in contemplation to erect a 
special building on the grounds, which are ample, 
and with separate entrances, to deal with these 
casual cases. 

All this Father Nugent has the energy and the 
will to accomplish. All he wants is money, and 
that he will get. 

We were delighted with the playing of the 
band. It consists of twenty-five pieces : five cor- 
nets, two piccolos, nine clarionets, two bombards, 
horns, drums, etc. We thought it the best band 
we had heard. It had been instructed, and was led, 
by one of the " Brothers." 



CHAPTER XL 

LONDON. 

/^N Wednesday, May 3, we left Liverpool for 
London, at 5.30 p. m., and went straight 
to Ford's Hotel, Manchester Street, Manchester 
Square. There we met the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kean, 
Bishop of Cloyne and Ross ; Rt. Rev. Dr. Dorian, 
Bishop of Down and Connor ; Rev. Dr. McNam- 
ara. President of the Irish College in Paris ; Rev. 
Dr. Murphy, Procurator of the same ; Count Ros- 
sell, an indefatigable traveller over the world, and 
a learned and "live" man; Rev. Dr. McHale, 
nephew of the great John of Tuam ; and also a 
Mr. Fletcher, from Scotland, deputed to the Holy 
Father, by Scotch Catholics, with their offerings of 
gold. 

Ford's is a very quiet family hotel. It makes 

(75) 



76 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

no boastful pretensions, nor gives forth bombastic 
announcements. The venerable founder of this 
hotel I was well acquainted with ; he died since 
my last visit to London. His son and wife 
now carry on the business of the hotel. It is 
now, as heretofore, much frequented by Catholic 
bishops, priests, and laymen. 

In the evening we visited, as a matter of course, 
Madame Toussaud's grand and famous exhibition 
of wax statuary, — the best, probably, in the world. 
Abraham Lincoln, George B. McClellan, and An- 
drew Jackson, among others, have been added. 
The likenesses, dresses, and postures are good. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HAMMERSMITH AND ST. NICHOLAS. 

/^N Thursday, May 4, we called on Rt. Rev. Dr. 
Dannell, Bishop of Southvvark. He has been 
consecrated within the past year, and succeeds Dr. 
Grant, the late learned and venerable Bishop 
of that diocese. They were both former fel- 
low-students of mine, one in Rome, the other in 
Paris. At Dr. Dannell's I also met Father Crook- 
hall, an old confi'ere at the Propaganda ; also 
the venerable Dr. Doyle, Yicar-General of the 
Diocese, who built the present Cathedral Church, 
" St. George's in the Fields-," long before it became 
a cathedral, and before Southwark became a dio- 
cese. Thence we drove to Westminster Bridge, 
London, and took the underground railroad for 

(77) 



78 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Hammersmith, where there was a school that Dr. 
Dannell wished us to visit. 

But, while going, let me say a word about this 
railroad. It is the most extraordinary thing of the 
kind I ever saw. It starts almost from the very 
doors of St. Paul's, passes through the heart and 
vitals of the city, and all around it for miles and 
miles. Sometimes it is entirely under ground — and 
then the cars are lighted by gas. Most of the way, 
however, it passes between massive stone walls, as 
though in a dry canal ; now showing the build- 
ing high above us, then again below us, so that 
we could see only the roofs and chimney-pots — 
all the cross streets running either above or below 
us. Indeed, the entire work — the material, the 
massive solidity, the comfort in the cars — even 
second-class — the promptness and politeness of all 
officials, the frequency of departure, the smoothness 
and quiet of the road over which the trains are 
swiftly steamed — are altogether grand and inde- 



HAMMERSMITH AND ST. NICHOLAS. 79 

scribable. It surpasses anything of the kind ever 
built or projected. 

But here we are at Hammersmith, about twelve 
miles from our starting-point at Westminster 
Bridge. 

We proceeded straight to the school, and found 
it to be a training-school, to educate Catholic 
teachers for the National Schools. The traininor 
course requires two years of study. In this school 
we found seventy young men, between the ages of 
eighteen and twenty, all fitting themselves, by 
studious application, to become first-class teachers. 
Their instructors are Xaverian Brothers, whose 
Superior-General resides in Bruges, Belgium. 
There are fourteen brothers in this community, all 
laymen. The Government pays £40 a year for each 
scholar, equal to $14,000 for the whole now in 
the school. 

Next day we visited St. Nicholas Industrial 
School for Boys. A portion of these buildings was 
once the residence of the renowned Mrs. Frye. 



8o SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Monslgnor Searle, a Catholic priest, is general 
manager. Rev. Mr. Heery is chaplain, and as- 
sistant manager. With these exceptions all the 
officers are lay-persons, and paid. The present 
number of boys is two hundred and sixty-four ; 
ages, from six to sixteen years. They are committed 
by magistrates, mostly for vagrancy, begging, 
selling matches about the streets, and petty pilfer- 
ings. They are committed till the age of sixteen, 
v^hen they can claim freedom. However, if 
deserving, they can obtain a sort of ticket-of-leave 
in eighteen months, — still liable to be recalled if 
the managers wish. 

The staff of officers in this school consist of — 

Two Clergymen, 

One Superintendent, 

Three Inspectors, or Prefects, 

One School-master, 

One School-mistress, 

One Tailor, 

One Shoemaker, 

Two Carpenters, 



li 



HAMMERSMITH AND ST. NICHOLAS. 8l 

One Gardener, 

A Matron, 

An Assistant-matron, 

Two Nurses, 

A Cook, 

A Laundry- worn an, 

A Housemaid. 



The wages paid to the two carpenters are 35 shil- 
lings and 20 shillings a week respectively, and they 
live with their families outside the institution. Seven 
acres of land are cultivated by the boys, under the 
direction of the gardener. The chief punishments 
are flogging, silence, and solitary confinement, on 
bread and water, from one day to a week. The 
rewards are certain privileges, and desirable 
employments. The most prized reward is promo- 
tion to the " Band of Honor." Boys of this class 
are allowed the privilege of visiting their friends 
once in every quarter, and also to a curtailment of 
their term of sentence. Meals : Breakfast — Bread, 
with ^' dripping," and cocoa. Dinner — Meat three 



82 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

days, beef-soup three days, pea-soup one day. 
Supper — Bread and molasses, and tea. The Gen- 
eral Government pays five shillings a v^eek for each 
boy, and the county authorities two-and-sixpence 
more. When boys are discharged, it is seldom that 
they leave London ; they seek employment in the 
city, scarcely ever in the country. We w^ere 
informed that not one in thirty ever follov^s the 
trade learned at the school. The employment of 
the boys is far from being lucrative. The only 
benefit appears to be that of keeping them occupied, 
and teaching them habits of industry. All who 
have read my Reports w^ill remember that I have 
alv^^ays maintained the same theory. A self-sup- 
porting school for boys is, in my opinion, a self- 
supporting delusion. It cannot well be otherwise. 
Because, i. Boys are not men, and cannot do the 
work of men. 2. There are in the world but few, 
if any, institutions, even for men^ which are self- 
supporting. 3. Boys cannot, without cruelty, be 
worked more than four or five hours a day, 



HAMMERSMITH AND ST. NICHOLAS. 83 

while men may be made to work ten. 4. Boys 
must have schooling and recreation. 5* Boys 
cannot make work for the market to compete with 
men's work. 6. Boys will waste and destroy stock 
and tools, either accidentally or maliciously. 7. 
Boys' work is made and thrown into the market not 
for use, but for sale. 

The only benefit of Industrial Schools — apart 
from education and training — is, that it gives the 
boys manual occupation and habits of industry. 
In this school, all work done in the shoe and tailors' 
shops is to make and mend for the house, and 
that is a great deal. 

The dormitories were poorly ventilated. No 
water-closets. In one dormitory the beds had no 
mattresses, only a blanket, which was spread on a 
sort of hammock, swung by cords, to the frame of 
an iron bedstead, without its cross-bars. There 
appeared to be a lack of discipline, and also of 
cleanliness. 

In the infirmary there were six patients : two 



84 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

had scurvy, one had ophthalmia, two consumption, 
and one scrofula. 

The number of deaths averages six a year. 
The treatment is allopathic. The reverend chaplain 
informed us, with great satisfaction, that the doctor 
had just ordered the purchase of twenty-six pounds 
of Epsom salts, to be dissolved in water and dis- 
tributed round among the boys as their spring 
medicine. What they get for summer, fall, and 
winter medicine, I did not learn. 



ji 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ILFORD AND NORTH HYDE. 

A^T 7E next proceeded to St. Edward's Reform- 
atory for boys. The building is the old 
Bole3'n Castle, once the residence of Anne Boleyn, 
one of the numerous wives of Henry VIII. It is 
in or near Ilford. 

Here are one hundred and fifty-five boys, under 
the charge of " Brothers of Mercy." The boys 
are all committed by magistrates for petty offences, 
mendicancy, etc. Their ages are from ten to six- 
teen years ; they are sentenced for a term of five 
years, but they generally obtain a ticket-of-leave at 
the expiration of half the term of sentence. The 
State pays six shillings a week, and the County 

(85) 



86 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. M\ 

I 

two shillings and sixpence a week more, for each ■ 
boy. 

STAFF OF OFFICERS. 
Six Brothers. 
One Shoemaker, hired. 
One Tailor, " 

One Baker, " 

One Gardener, " 

Punishments — Flogging and cells. Rewards — 
Shortening term of sentence. Meals — Morning and 
evening, bread and tea. Dinner — Meat twice a 
week, the other days pudding and bread. There 
are twelve acres of land attached to the school, and 
a fine kitchen-garden. 

The boys who work attend school only one hour 
and a half each da}^. Those who cannot read or 
write, attend school five or six hours a day. 

The dormitories were clean, neat, and well fur- 
nished ; they pleased us more than any we have 
yet seen. The bed-spreads looked fresh, as 
though new; they are of woollen, and prettily 



ILFORD AND NORTH HYDE. 87 

figured ; they are taken off every evening, and 
carefully folded, and replaced in the morning. 

The workshops were very close, and badly 
ventilated ; the odor of the shoe-shop was partic- 
ularly strong. About two-thirds of the boys are 
workers ; the others attend school. The refectory 
looked well. 

The boys eat from tin dishes, and porringers, 
without knives and forks. 

The chapel is a pretty Gothic building, erected 
at some distance from all the rest. 

On May 6th, we visited St. Mary's Orphanage, 
North Hyde, Southall. This school is managed 
by " Brothers of Mercy." It is a school for or- 
phan boys, not for criminals or mendicants. 
The present number of orphans is 445. Ages, 
from seven years to sixteen. They are received on 
application of relatives, friends, and guardians. 
Government pays six shillings a week for each boy, 
and relatives or guardians pay fourteen pounds 



88 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



($70) a year, in addition, if able. About one hun- 
dred are thus paid for by friends. 

They have a brass band of twenty-six pieces, viz. : 
ten cornets, two bombards, fourteen baritones, drums, ' 
etc. Under the direction of one of the Brothers,; 
they played the "Barber of Seville," and "Figaro,"' 
and they did it very well. A band-master comes twice 
a week, to give lessons in music, and the boys 
practise daily, twice, under the direction of a 
Brother. 

The staff of officers consists of — 

Eleven Brothers. 
One Tailor, paid. 
One Shoemaker, " 
One Gardener, " 
One Engineer, ** 



All the washing, wringing out, and drying is done 
by steam. There is a fine bathing-tank, twenty 
feet by ten, and five feet deep. The water is 



ILFORD AND NORTH HYDE. 89 

pumped into it by the steam-engine, and then 
warmed by steam. 

The punishments are, chiefly — Feruling with rat- 
tan, and sometimes flogging ; also silence in time 
of recreation. The rewards are — The "Band of 
Honor," presents of books, occasional leave of ab- 
sence, etc. 

The chapel is neat and clean, and is detached 
from the main building. 

The wash-rooms, for morning ablutions, have 
basins on a shelf all round the room, with a faucet 
over each basin. 

The grounds cover four acres. Meals — Morn- 
ing and evening, bread and tea ; no butter. Din- 
ner — Meat three times a week, bread and potatoes 
four times a week. 

The apartments, corridors, etc., were very clean, 
and the boys looked cheerful and rugged ; they at- 
tend school four hours a day, and work four hours. 
There were no water-closets in the building ; there 
were some in the yards. 



90 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

On Sunday we said Mass in the Church in 
Spanish Place, and after breakfast took a walk to 
and around Hyde Park. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



HYDE PARK. 



T TYPE PARK, like all others we have seen, is 
kept in good order, and is beautifully laid 
out, and tastefully trimmed. It covers four hun- 
dred acres. In the midst of it winds the '' Serpen- 
tine," an extensive lake or stream, in which all 
London, with its nearly four millions of inhab- 
itants, bathes whenever it pleases. The hours for 
bathing, and the conditions, are fixed by law. It 
was really a beautiful sight to see the thousands 
of families, and the thousands of people in holiday 
dress, crowding merrily along the shores and beach of 
the Serpentine, or scattered in parties all over the 
slopes and grassy lawns. Many parties were accom- 
panied with their family dogs, as proud and important 
and fierce as their masters. The dogs barked, and 

(91) 



92 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

shouted, and dived, and ran about frantic, and 
played all sorts of antics for our amusement. One 
large dog was crossing a bridge thirty feet above 
the water, when his master threw his cane over the 
railing into the water, and lo ! without a word, 
and without stopping even to scratch his head, the 
dog leaped upon the bridge-rail, and then down 
into the water beneath, like a diver. He seized the 
stick, looked up for a moment to his master, then 
swam ashore with it. 

On Sundays, in London, we observed that all 
shops were closed except liquor and cigar stores ; 
these were to be found at all points. Fruit-stands, 
also, were everywhere in full feather. 



CHAPTER XV. 

SISTERS OF CHARITY. 

/^N May 8th, we visited the Creche, or Manger, 
No. 4 Bulstrode Street. This, as its name im- 
ports, is a resting-place for " babes and sucklings," 
and other little ones ; it is under the charge of 
Sisters of Charity. Mothers who have to work all 
day may bring their babes here in the morning, and 
leave them till evening. The infants will be ten- 
derly cared for, and fed. This is called the "Day 
Nursery," and the mother pays threepence a day for 
the care of her babe. The receipts of the year, from 
this source alone, amount to about $350, which, the 
Sisters say, have gone far towards paying for the food 
of the children and the wages of a servant. The 
number of infants averages about forty. 

Connected with this school, under the care of the 

(93) 



94 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

same Sisters, is a home for girls of thirteen years an( 
upwards. By the liberal offerings of the faithful, 
the Sisters are enabled to receive and support! 
eighteen of these girls. They are thus saved, atj 
the very age and moment of the greatest danger to 
their morals and faith, and are carefully prepared 
for domestic service, until suitable places are found 
for them. 

The Sisters are indefatigable ; they have also 
established a School of Perseverance, or night- 
school, for young girls. It is regularly attended, 
and is doing an immense amount of good. The 
attendance varies from forty to ninety. This class 
is composed chiefly of girls who, from one cause 
or another, have not received proper education and 
religious instruction at home. Here they are 
taught to read and write, and are fully instructed 
in their religion. Thus they are rescued from a 
life of poverty and of shame, and are saved to 
their country and to God. 

Connected with the same is another school, for 



SISTERS OF CHARITY. 05 

girls of a superior class, who pay a shilling a week 
each. This school has had a good success ; it 
supplies a great want. For want of schools of 
this kind a great number of Catholic children — 
not classed among the very poor — are sent to 
anti-Catholic schools, where they lose their own 
religion and get nothing in exchange for it. The 
payments made by these scholars are quite suffi- 
cient to support their school. 

The indefatigable Sisters have also been able, to 
their great joy, to cooperate in another good work. 
Father Taylor, of St. James's Church, Spanish 
Place, has established a soup-kitchen. The object 
is to give a daily dinner to such children of the 
parochial schools as have no dinner awaiting them 
at home. The good Sisters prepare the dinner at 
their convent. About one hundred children usu- 
ally partake of it. The Sisters say that man}^ of 
these children are literally half-starved when they 
enter. 

The entire establishment is supported by annual 



96 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 






subscriptions, donations, concerts, lectures, and 
receipts from pay-scholars. There are but six 
Sisters in the community to accomplish all this 
great, charitable work. 

After this, we visited Regent's Park. It covers 
about as much ground as Hyde Park. The collec- 
tion of wild animals, birds, and reptiles is one of 
the largest and most interesting in the world. The 
park is kept in excellent condition. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BRUSSELS. 

/^N May 9th, we started for Brussels by railroad, 
via Dover. From Dover we crossed the chan- 
nel to Ostend. We passed through Bruges and 
Ghent, and reached Brussels in good health and 
spirits. 

Brussels is a fine city. The stores are elegant 
and substantial. The churches are large, and 
richly ornamented. The people all orderly, 
respectable, and thrifty. Better than all, they are 
a truly religious people, and love to visit the 
churches, and assist at the offices on all religious 
festivals and solemnities. The streets are remark- 
ably clean, and so are the sidewalks; they are 
generally wide and airy. 

A peculiar feature of trade is the general use of 

7 <^97) 



pS SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

dogs as draught animals. One, and sometimes 
two, or even three, dogs are harnessed to carts. 
These carts are frequently heavily laden. I have 
seen dogs dragging a cart piled v^ith lumber ; the 
poor creatures pull like horses. Their harnesses 
are very pretty, generally brass-mounted, and 
highly polished. 

On May 12th we went to Malines, and called on 
the Rev. Canon Schepper, Superior of the Order 
of the Brothers of Charity, in the fervent hope 
that, fortified as we were with letters to him, we 
could, through his influence, obtain a community 
of Brothers for the Diocese of Boston ; but we 
were sadly disappointed. The Canon had been 
very ill, and was convalescent, but was unable to 
receive visitors ; however, he sent us word by a 
Brother that he had no subjects whatever to spare. 

We were shown the College, for such we found 
it was, and learned that there were three hundred 
students, each paying four hundred franks a year 



II 



BRUSSELS. 99 



for their board and tuition. The number of Broth- 
ers, including novices, was forty. 

In the yard of our hotel there is a whistling 
groom, who beats "Yankee Doodle," of Boston, out 
and out. He begins his carols at five o'clock every 
morning, and whistles the one tune, if tune it is, 
till eleven at night. I don't know how or when 
he eats. 

May 14th was Sunday. We said Mass at the 
Parish Church, and dined at the College of the 
Jesuit Fathers by invitation of Father Deynoodt, 
the Procurator. This good Father speaks English 
very fluently and correctly. In this college the 
lamented and venerated Bishop Fitzpatrick resided 
for many months during his illness. While sitting 
at table, the Rev. Father informed me that I was 
in the very seat the beloved Bishop had so long 
occupied. All the Fathers and Brothers well and 
lovingly remember the dear Bishop, and venerate 
his memory. 

On May 15th we went, by rail, to Ghent. There 



lOO SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

we visited the school of the " Brothers of Charity," 
and had an interview with their Superior. They 
have two or three hundred Brothers in Belgium, 
but not enough to supply their own immediate 
wants. However, we were not favorably impressed 
with the condition of their school. The boys at 
their desks appeared to be idle ; they were 
restlessly moving about, stretching their necks, and 
even rising from their seats, to see the strangers. 
Several were throwing spltballs at each other, and 
laughing and talking. While we stood before them, 
however, there was good order; but in each room, 
as we left it, we could plainly hear the noise and 
confusion renewed. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

DEAF-MUTE SCHOOLS. 

/^N May i6th, we called on Monseigneur de 
Haerne, a member of the Legislative 
Assembly of Belgium. He is a priest and a 
Canon, and a prominent citizen and philanthropist. 
He is deeply interested in the instruction of deaf- 
mutes, and the blind. He has devised and put in 
practice an admirable method of teaching articu- 
lation to the dumb, even though born deaf. Mon- 
seigneur de Haerne is the author of several 
valuable works on the subject of the education of 
the deaf and dumb and blind. He has brought 
the whole subject before the Belgian Legislature, 
and has succeeded in procuring the establishment 
of Deaf and Dumb Institutions and Schools 
throughout the entire kingdom, at the public ex- 
pense. 

(lOl) 



I02 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 






Canon de Haerne, in his work on Deaf-Mutes, 
explains the distinction between the French and Ger- 
man systems. The French system relies mostly on 
finger-signs and writing ; the German system relies 
more on articulation and writing ; finger-signs to be 
used for a while as aids, but to be dropped as soon 
as possible. The Canon describes at length the 
French system, as taught by the Abbe de I'Epee, 
and the German, by de Heinicke, and, like a sensible 
man as he is, declares that the best system of all 
is that which reconciles and adopts both. There are 
some deaf-mutes that can never be taught to artic- 
ulate ; there are others that, having commenced to 
articulate, can never become very familiar with 
signs. Each system has its great merit; the two 
combined make perfection. 

We visited the schools, male and female, founded 
and watched over by Monseigneur de Haerne. The 
children are taught on the German principle of 
articulation, and they do admirably well. We 
asked them questions, and, watching our lips, they 



DEAF-MUTE SCHOOLS. IO3 

replied readily and distinctly. But it is plain that the 
"conciliation" system is adopted, for in any conver- 
sation that required many words, the hands and 
fingers were in full play. All that we conversed 
with had been born deaf. The Sisters of Charity 
have charge of the schools. 

In his valuable work, De Haerne traces the history 
of the education of deaf-mutes even from the era 
of the Pharaohs, when they were taught by means 
of hieroglyphics. They were then, in those 
remote ages, held in greater esteem than they were 
afterwards, during a more enlightened civilization. 
The Greeks and Romans regarded them as beings 
disgraced and useless ; as having no souls, no 
sense — as idiots, not accountable for their acts — 
as monsters, not fit to live. In Rome they were 
thrown into the Tiber and drowned ; but under 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and also under the law 
of Moses, man was regarded as the image of God, 
and the title was accorded to deaf-mutes. They, 
and the blind, therefore, made after the same image, 



I04 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

were entitled to the same eternal destiny, and have 
a RIGHT to the respect and protection and love of 
their fellows. The Holy Spirit has said : 

*' Open thj mouth in behalf of the Dumb." — Prov. xxxi. 8. 

When Moses complained to God that he was 
almost dumb, and could not speak to the people, the 
Lord reproves him in this wise : " Who made man's 
mouth? or who made the dumb and the deaf, the 
seeing and the blind ? Did not I ? " — Exodus iv. 1 1 . 

Thus does God Himself plead the cause of the 
deaf and dumb and blind, — so also will we. 
Who is there among Christians that would deny 
baptism to the deaf or blind? Not one. Jesus 
Christ Himself is their Advocate. It was He who 
said to the blind, "Receive thy sight"; and it 
was He who made even " the deaf to hear and the 
dumb to speak." Our Lord loved the deaf, the 
dumb, and the blind, — so also will we. 

It need not surprise us, then, that in every age 



DEAF-MUTE SCHOOLS. IO5 

of Christianity the Church has recognized the dig- 
nity and worth of these hapless ones, and has 
hastened to their rescue and relief. Articulation 
for the deaf-mute, however, be it known, is no new 
thing ; it has been known, taught, and practised 
in every age since the dawn of Christendom. The 
dumb, the blind, the idiot, the deformed, instead of 
being proscribed and doomed as before, became the 
objects of the tenderest care. 

John Beverly, Bishop of York, in the seventh 
century, acquired great notoriety for the charity he 
exercised towards a poor deaf boy who frequently 
called on him for alms. Pitying his infirmity even 
more than his poverty, the saintly Bishop tried to 
teach the boy to speak, and he succeeded. Le- 
gend says it was a miracle ; we say, — It was the 
zeal, and patience, and charity of an indefatigable 
Christian teacher. 

Venerable Bede, in his ecclesiastical history, 
gives an interesting account of Beverly's mode of 
teaching the boy, which proves that the system 



I06 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

that we now employ in our most boasted schools for 
the instruction of deaf-mutes, is no modern discov- 
ery. The Bishop called the boy to him, and gave 
him to understand that he wanted him to talk. 
Then with his lips he said, yes, no. The boy tried 
hard. Whenever he succeeded he was rewarded 
with a sign of approbation, which he never forgot. 
Then he began to teach him the alphabet. " Say 
' A.' " The boy tried till, to his great joy, he said it. 
"B." He did it, and so on. From letters he went 
on to syllables and words. {Addtdtt ei syllabus ac 
verba, — Bede.) Finally he taught him to repeat 
sentences, and to express his thoughts in intelligible 
language. 

There is good reason to believe that the same 
system was practised in the schools of Bouzieres- 
auX'Dames^ in Lorraine, in the tenth century, and 
also in the Cistercian Monastery at Heidelberg, in 
the thirteenth century, and, as the Abbe de I'Epee 
declares, in Spain, from time immemorial. It is 
evident, then, that the instruction of the deaf and 



DEAF-MUTE SCHOOLS. 



107 




JOHN BEVERLY TEACHING DUMB BOV TO READ AND WRITE. 



io8 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 



dumb, even in articulation, is no modern invention ; 
it is as old as Christianity, and began with it. In 
fact, during the middle ages the great schools for 
the education of these stricken ones were kept in 
the monasteries and convents, and their most faith- 
ful, and zealous, and patient teachers were monks 
and nuns. 

There are now, in Belgium, eleven of these 
schools in full and successful operation. Seven of 
them are conducted by Brothers and Sisters of re- 
ligious orders ; the remainder by lay-persons. The 
average number of pupils in each of the eleven 
schools, is forty-seven deaf-mutes, and fourteen 
blind. Considering its population, and extent of 
territory, what other country has done, and is doing, 
more, or as much, for these hapless beings than 
the little Kingdom of Belgium ? 

We visited, also, the school of the Christian 
Brothers, but were not very favorably impressed 
with the discipline of the house, or with the 
ventilation of the rooms. These schools are 



DEAF-MUTE SCHOOLS. IO9 

supported by Government, and the buildings erected 
at the expense of the city. Catholics, Protestants, 
and Jews have each their separate schools, sup- 
ported by the Belgian Government ; and so 
throughout the kingdom. The same law applies 
also to all charitable institutions. 

Through Monseigneur de Haerne and Father 
Deynoodt we telegraphed to Cologne, Bois le Due, 
Holland, Maestricht, Rene, and Bruges, for a col- 
ony of Brothers. We also visited Malines and 
Ghent for the same purpose. In vain — there were 
nowhere any Brothers disposable ; all were wanted, 
and more, for their own houses. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LONDONDERRY. 

/^N Saturday, May 20, we returned to London 
by way of Calais, in France. We would have 
gone to Paris, if we could with prudence and safety ; 
but that was impossible, on account of the war then 
raging. We recrossed the channel to Dublin, and 
thence by rail to Londonderry. Our impressions 
of this beautiful city were very favorable, and they 
continue vivid to this day. 

Londonderry is situated on the River Foyle, and 
contains, at present, about 30,000 inhabitants, two- 
thirds of whom are Catholics. We had introduc- 
tions to Mrs. Mulholland, a lady merchant, an in- 
telligent and affable woman, and a good Christian. 
She kindly invited us to take up our quarters in her 
beautiful mansion, and treated us with cordial hos- 
pitality. On the day of our arrival, Mrs. Mulhol- 

(no) 



LONDONDERRY. Ill 

land procured a carriage and treated us to a grand 
drive. The general appearance of the city is very 
fine. A gentle hill, covered w^ith dwellings, and 
stores, and public buildings, with a church on the 
summit, gives it a very picturesque effect. 

On May 27, we proceeded to Port Rush, and by 
jaunting-car to the famous Giant's Causeway, 
which, with the exception of Malin Head, is the 
most northerly point of Ireland. 

Of the Giant's Causeway it may be truly said that 
it is one of the marvellous, curious, and incompre- 
hensible w^orks of an Almighty God that can never 
be explained, never understood. There is nothing 
else like it in the w^orld ; it is composed of some 
forty thousand basaltic columns of stone, crystallized 
into their present shape, at a distance of time un- 
known. These columns, which stand close together 
— so close that you can hardly insert the blade of a 
knife between them — are neither square nor round, 
but are five, six, seven, or eight-sided. Nor are 
thev solid and continuous in their lenf^th, but are 



112 



SIX WEEKS ABROAD, 



composed of many pieces, two or three feet in di- 
ameter, carefully fitted and jointed together, one 
above another, like the cunning work of a master 
mechanic. 




THE FLYING BRIDGE OF CARRICK-A-REDE. 



LONDONDERRY. II3 

A few miles from the Giant's Causeway is the 
famous flying bridge of Carrick-a-Rede, or "the 
rock in the road." The bridge is made of ropes, 
some sixty feet long, connecting an inland rock of 
basalt wnth another rock on the main land. Two 
cables are stretched parallel across the fearful 
chasm, ninety feet deep ; across these cables are 
planks, securely fastened. On one side there is 
also a hand-rope, to guide the venturesome traveller. 
A stranger would hardly dare attempt the transit; to 
see a man crossing would be enough to curdle 
one's blood. An engraving of this remarkable 
bridge is given on the preceding page. 

In Londonderry and its suburbs, where there are 
so many Catholics and so many Protestants, and 
where we passed so many days, I was not a little 
surprised that we witnessed nothing that betokened 
religious intolerance or want of Christian charity. 
Neither during excursions by day, nor reunions of 
evenings, nor discussion on religion and politics, 
nor on the placards and posters on the walls, could 



114 ^^^ WEEKS ABROAD. 

we discover a word of unkindness or bitterness — 
not a word of "Orangeism" or "Ribbonism," so 
called — all appear to live together in harmony, 
and transact business, and visit, on the most 
friendly terms ; all feel that they are citizens of 
one commonwealth, and as such live together in 
peace and good-will. This is as it should be. 
The social order is an order that stands distinct 
from the religious or political order. The relig- 
ious order affects the soul and conscience, which 
are invisible ; the political order affects the inter- 
ests of the commonwealth. The social order in- 
fluences and directs the daily intercourse of man 
with man. 

Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Turks may 
live together in peace, and trade together to their 
mutual advantage, and observe towards each other 
all the amenities of refined life, as they do in Con- 
stantinople, and Smyrna, and Jerusalem. 

What a pity, therefore, that unlawful, antiquated, 
mouldy feuds, almost dead and despised in the 



I 



LONDONDERRY. II5 

Old Country, should be sent over to this new 
country to beg for an existence ! All Catholics 
are Catholics ; among them no " far-ups " nor " far- 
downs," no " Orangeism," no "Ribbonism," no 
envy, nor hatred, nor malice, but Brotherly 
Love and Progress ; progress ever upward, 
never dovv^nward. Whatever is Catholic is univer- 
sal. Whatever is universal is never and no- 
where an enemy or foreigner. 

After a few very agreeable days passed in Lon- 
donderry and its neighborhood, we returned to 
Cork and Queenstown. 



CHAPTER XIX 



MUCKROSS ABBEY. 



■\T 7ERE I to undertake to describe the various 
objects of interest in Ireland, its antiquities, 
its venerable ruins, its glorious histor}^ I should 
never know where to stop, and I should be forced, 
despite myself, into making a book. 

Speaking of Ireland's venerable ruins, what 
more instructive, what more replete with holy rem- 
iniscences, what more suggestive of the violences 
and blackness of sacrilege, than the old ruins of 
Muckross Abbey, built in 1440, in the ages of 
Faith, by the pious and devoted children of St. 
Francis. 

The ruins consist of a church and monastery ; 
and even in their present condition show a wonder- 
ful beauty and skill of workmanship. The clois- 

(116) 



ii 



MUCKROSS ABBEY. 



117 



ter, consisting of some twenty arches, is in a fine 
state of preservation. There are tombs and graves 




MUCKROSS ABBEY, 



Il8 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

that remind us of the holy ones now in heaven, 
and a huge trunked tree overhanging and shading 
the consecrated grounds. The main entrance is 
by a Gothic doorway, overgrown with ivy. Several 
of the grained arches are in a good state of pres- 
ervation ; so also are the dormitories, refectory, 
and kitchen of the monastery, attached. 

As our footfall awakened the echoes of the long 
cloisters, we started involuntarily lest we should 
interrupt the old monks at their devotions, or meet 
them chanting the Miserere on their way to the 
chapel. 

There is another Franciscan abbey, the ruins 
of which may be seen in Kilkenny. It was 
founded a.d. 1230, but it was not completed till 
some time in the fourteenth century. It was for- 
merly the abode, the retreat, and the study of 
many learned and holy members of the order of 
St. Francis; but became, alas! a prey to the cu- 
pidity of a " reformed religion." 

On June 2, we embarked on steamship City of 



MUCKROSS ABBEY. 



119 



Brooklyn^ for New York, where we landed on the 
fourteenth. We were received and conducted to 




FRANCISCAN ABBE^', IN KILKENNY. 



the Everett House by J D. Judge, Esq., of Bos- 
ton, and Thomas J. Earle, Esq., of New York, 
— both old and faithful friends. Home again — 



I20 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

and all is well I I am the happiest of men ! A 
most hearty and magnificent cead mila falthe 
awaited us in Boston. To God be all the praise, 
and all the glory ! May Heaven's choicest bless- 
ings fall on my good people, and on all the children 
of my parish, and on the House of the Angel 
Guardian ! 



i 



r 



CHAPTER XX. 



CONCLUSION. 



T HAVE given my readers a brief sketch of a 
short tour ; — I cannot call it a tour through Ire- 
land, as it was only a rapid run along its eastern 
borders, from the Giant's Causeway to the Cove 
of Cork, stopping now and then for rest and re- 
freshment, as well for the body as the soul. 

If I could have had the time, I would indeed 
have measured out and surveyed every portion of 
that honored land ; I would again have visited 
Killarney and its beautiful lakes, and grottos, and 
cascades, and remarkable echoes, and venerable 
ruins. I would have visited Limerick, on the 
banks of the Shannon, the famous battle-ground of 
Irish heroes ; and good old Galway, so long a port 
of trade for many nations ; and the counties of 

("0 



122 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Longford and Fermanagh, endeared to thousands 
among and around us ; and Belfast, with its 
130,000 inhabitants and its milHons of spindles, 
manufacturing the finest and the best linens in the 
world ; and Donegal, with its wild glens, and sing- 
ing-birds, and precious minerals, and many other 
places of equal interest ; but my tour was one of 
business, not of pleasure, and my time was limited ; 
besides, I had already written of many of those 
places and scenes in my book of " Travels " in 
1854. 

I shall now conclude with some general and 
practical remarks upon this, my third, trip across 
the ocean. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS. 



'TPHE charitable institutions, of all sorts, that we 
visited, both public and private, are much 
more extensive and massive than those we have in 
the States. They are built generally of stone, 
and are, nearly all, out of debt. The yards and 
grounds are also wide and expensive, and the in- 
mates have plenty of wholesome air. 

"Honor to whom honor is due." It is but justice 
to say that for all this we are indebted to a wise, 
and, of late, a much enlightened legislation, that 
grants from the Treasury of the State, for each 
child, the amount required for its support, without 
respect to politics or to creeds. 

When the Legislature of Massachusetts shall have 
done in like manner, and thus encourage individ- 

(123) 



124 ^^-^ WEEKS ABROAD. 

uals to found asylums by granting a sure and 
permanent aid to them when founded, then what 
flourishing and useful asylums will be the House of 
the Angel Guardian and the Home for Destitute 
C^itholic Children, and all kindred institutions of 
all sects ! Spacious buildings, ample grounds, no 
debts ! Blessings unspeakable to the poor ! Sav- 
ing incalculable to the State ! All State asylums 
for boys nearly empty ! 

Saving to the State ! yes, it is that very con- 
sideration which has of late changed and re- 
directed the whole current of British legislation 
on this subject. The more such institutions are 
multiplied, the less will be the tax on the people 
for the support of wanderers, and the less the 
cost of lands and public buildings. Were it 
not for the Home for Destitute Roman Catholic 
Children, the House of the Angel Guardian, and 
the Protestant Home for Little Wanderers, our 
State and municipal authorities would have been 
forced, by sheer necessity, to erect additional 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS. 1 25 

buildings or else establish other juvenile asylums. 
Moreover, it ought to be considered that Catholic 
establishments are usually managed by commu- 
nities of " Religious," whose entire life is consecrated 
to the w^ork, and who ask for no salary ; there- 
fore the cost for their support is comparatively 
small. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 



TT will be seen that in visiting the Industrial 
Schools, and other Reformatories, I have made 
particular inquiries with regard to rewards and pun- 
ishments. These necessarily perform a very impor- 
tant part in the discipline of a school, and in the 
industry and happiness of the scholars. Without 
obedience and submission to teachers and other 
superiors, nothing can be expected but idleness 
and disorder. 

The rewards given are, for the most part, i. 
Release before expiration of sentence; 2. Permis- 
sion to visit friends ; 3. Pocket-money ; 4. A prize- 
gift of a book, or the like. 

The usual punishments are, i. The loss of the 
above-named privileges ; 2. Reproof by Superior, 

(126) 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. I27 

either public or private; 3. Rattan on the hand; 
4. In very rare cases, flogging. 

I was surprised to find w^hat a change had taken 
place, both in theory and practice, in respect to 
corporal punishment, throughout Great Britain and 
on the Continent. But a few years ago, and the 
school-master stood before his class, like old 
Squeers, with book in left hand, and trifurcated 
leather thong in the right, upraised, ready for an 
immediate thwack. I have myself been a witness 
to a discipline of this kind, and when I opened the 
door there was the tableau : the master as above 
described, and the boys, some looking at their 
hands, others rubbing theirs, others writhing, others, 
again, mouths wide open, howling. 

It is not so now. Whatever school we visited, 
we could nowhere see or hear whip or rattan ; it 
was evidently a forbidden instrument, to be 
ashamed of; nor was it till we bluntly put the ques- 
tion, that we were told that in some, though rare, 
cases, such punishment was resorted to. 



128 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

I remember well that not many years ago, in 
this city of Boston, a well-known member of the 
School Board* submitted an order that a committee 
be appointed to visit the Grammar Schools, in order 
to ascertain what amount of corporal punishment 
was inflicted in the different rooms. I was one of 
that committee. The result of our labors amazed 
us, and startled the whole community — and the 
teachers more than all. In several Grammar 
Schools there had been three or four hundred rattan- 
ings in each room during the preceding three 
months. 

How is it now? In many schools in Boston there 
is no striking at all. In all the others it has dimin- 
ished from fifty to ninety-five per cent. By visitors 
the rattan is seldom seen ; it is usually hidden. I 
remember that when I was a boy at school (Master 
Webb's, on Mason Street), the punishment for a 
grave offence was to take off our shoes and socks, 
lay us upon our backs on a bench, and then basti- 

* Dr. J. P. Ordwaj. 



I 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 1 29 

nado our naked feet with a cudcrel. It is now done 
on the naked hand instead. That is an improve- 
ment. Others are living who remember well the 
old " ten-footer " on Mason Street, and the basti- 
nado. How changed the times ! How changed 
public opinion ! 

In Ireland and England flogging of children is 
now seldom inflicted. In France, Belgium, and 
Italy, it is forbidden by law. 

Flogging was once practised in the United States 
Service. Why was it abandoned? Because it was 
shocking to humanity. What ! shocking to hu- 
manity to strike at the tough pelt of a man, and not 
to assault the tender and sensitive flesh of a child ? 

From what I saw and learned abroad, I am more 
than ever convinced that rattaning and flogging 
might be omitted altogether, at least in all the in- 
stitutions we visited, and without the least prejudice 
to the discipline and good order of the house. 

For several years the use of the rattan has been 
nearly discontinued in the House of the Angel 

9 



130 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

Guardian, not by any law of prohibition, nor at 
once, but gradually, and by the teacher^ themselves. 
They perceived that the sound of the rattan was 
annoying to the Rector and Superintendent, and 
they soon found other means of governing refrac- 
tory boys than flogging them. Never were these 
schools in better order, or more advanced in schol- 
arship, than now. In many of our Boston schools 
corporal punishment is unknown; in all it has 
wonderfully diminished. 



\ 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

RITUALISM. 

A MARVELLOUS change in the feelings of 
the English people appears to be rapidly tak- 
ing place, which it is devoutly hoped will result in 
the conversion of England. The prayers initiated 
by Father Ignatius, the Passionist, have not been 
lost ; they are bringing forth their fruit ; it is even 
now ripening, — the fields await the reapers. The 
Ritualistic, or High Church, movement is signif- 
icant. It is a big wave of the reaction of the 
" Reformation " ; it is more universal and more 
powerful than is generally thought; it penetrates 
all classes, and is found in almost every family.* 
Legislative toleration has been secured for doc- 

* See "British Quarterly Review," April, 1871, Art. on the 
Episcopal Church. 

(131) 



132 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

trines and practices which, a few years ago, would 
have been thought to threaten the existence of the 
established church. "They assert dogmas," says 
the Dean of Chichester, one of the ablest of An- 
glican writers, "which are scarcely to be dis- 
tinguished from some of the errors of the Church 
of Rome." Practices are now tolerated which 
were formerly regarded with horror and alarm. It 
is a significant fact that all these innovations on 
Protestantism are, by the Ritualists, or High Church 
party, called "restorations." Ritualism affects the 
English Church to its lowest depths of Evangel- 
icism and Methodism. Disorganizers now organ- 
ize ; even Dissenters talk of obedience and spiritual 
subjection. Chasubles, and candles, and colors, 
and mystic rites, are eagerly run after by the 
very persons who but yesterday despised them ; and 
they who gaze from mere curiosity are soon con- 
verted through admiration, and instinctive love of 
beauty and order. 

Ritualism has affected the Nobles, the Bishops, 



RITUALISM. 133 

the Clergy, the rich squire, and the poor peasant ; 
and the most rigid Puritans, and enemies of it, stand 
confused and aghast at the onslaught it is making. 

The defenders of Ritualism hold a great van- 
tage-ground. They are in earnest. They are de- 
termined. They are brave, and neither shrink nor 
yield. The earth may explode, but they mean to 
stand. Such men ought to be Catholics, and, I 
believe, will be ; they cannot long be content with 
imitation — they will seek the reality. . 

It is the policy of England at the present time to 
respect religion and conscience ; hence, for the first 
time since the days of Henry VIII., Catholic asy- 
lums and Catholic schools are encouraged, and 
even supported by the Government. For Catholic 
institutions. Catholic chaplains are paid, and for 
Protestant institutions, Protestant chaplains. 

Take, for example, the Government Military 
School in Phoenix Park, already described in these 
pages. In order to remove every possible objection 
on the score of religion, a Protestant chaplain is 



134 ^^-^ WEEKS ABROAD. 

employed for the Protestant boys, and a Catholic 
chaplain for Catholic boys. Two beautiful Gothic 
chapels have been erected, not far apart, one for 
Catholic, the other for Protestant worship. The 
erection of two chapels was not strictly necessary, 
but was done for the sake of discipline and order ; 
as the governors of the school have assigned certain 
hours for Sunday services, which are the same for 
all. 

Our own legislators would show great wisdom 
and tact if they, too, would authorize Catholic in- 
struction and service for Catholics. It would improve 
greatly the condition of the poorer classes, and add 
much to their contentment and happiness. It- would 
cherish religion in their hearts, improve their morals, 
and make them wiser, and therefore better, citizens. 

The objection to this has been so often made, 
and so often refuted, that my readers are doubtless 
familiar with both objection and reply ; still, I will 
give both. It is objected that if the ministrations 
of a Catholic priest for Catholics in our public in- 



RITUALISM. 135 

stitutions should be accorded by the State, then, 
for a Hke reason, a Methodist minister should be 
employed for the Methodists, an Episcopalian for 
the Episcopalians, and so on. Thus our public 
institutions would be likely to become arenas of 
religious controversy, and scenes of theological bit- 
terness. 

I reply, i. Catholics, for their spiritual suste- 
nance and preparation for death, require the min- 
istrations of a Catholic priest. No other could 
possibly give them aid and consolation in their 
need. They believe, with unwavering faith, that 
the priest can forgive their sins by authority invested 
in him by our Lord ; that none else can. The 
good sense and generous instincts of Protestants 
cannot but respect the strength and sincerity of 
this faith, and accord to it legal protection. 

2. Were this done in behalf of the consciences 
of Catholics, it would not at all follow that the same 
thing would have to be done for all the denomina- 
tions, and for this simple reason : that the con- 



136 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

sciences of the denominations would not demand it 
any more then, than now. 

At present there is not, we believe, a public in- 
stitution in the country, the chaplain of which is 
required to be always a member of a certain de- 
nomination. When changes are made, successors 
are chosen without regard to denominational belief, 
provided, only, that the candidate be a Protestant. 
Yet in many of these institutions a great majority 
of the inmates are Catholics, or persons of other 
religions than the chaplain. Protestants are not so 
exclusive in their conscientious views as Catholics. 
None but a Catholic priest can instruct, console, 
and cheer a Catholic in his last moments ; whereas 
any good zealous Protestant minister or layman 
may speak words of consolation and prayer beside 
the sick-bed of a fellow-Protestant. Never, as far 
as I have been able to learn, do the Protestant in- 
mates of these institutions refuse the services of the 
chaplain, and demand a minister of their sect; 
still, if they should, I think their request ought to 



RITUALISM. 137 

be granted, if possible, and we presume it would 
be. 

3. Christendom, strictly speaking, comprises only 
two divisions : the one, and by a great many millions 
the most numerous, is a unit, and is called the 
Roman Catholic Church; all its members, under 
one head, agree in one faith and communion. The 
other is composed of those who do not accept all 
Catholic dogmas, and yet, by virtue of their opposi- 
tion to this or that doctrine or practice, are held 
together by a sort of fraternal bond ; and these are 
Protestants. 

4. Hence we maintain that not many, but only 
two religious teachers or chaplains are required for 
our mixed public institutions : namely, one for 
Protestants, the other for Catholics. We do not 
hesitate to put this on the broad and solid ground 
of American respect for every man's conscience. 
As the law respects the conscience of Jews and 
Quakers, so it ought that of Catholics. Such is 
the legislation of Great Britain, and of Prussia, and 



138 SIX WEEKS ABROAD. 

of Belgium, and of Austria, and of France ; and 
shall free America be behind the Empires of the 
Old World? 

What possible influence can a Protestant chap- 
lain have over Roman Catholic inmates, except to 
unmake or undo them? But, though ever so vir- 
tuous and zealous, he can never do that. And 
even though he did take them to pieces, he must 
leave them so, in utter despair; since, for his life, 
he could never put them together again in any pre- 
sentable form. Take from a Catholic his religion, 
and you have taken "that which not enricheth you, 
but maketh him poor indeed " ; for you have taken 
away his morals with his religion, and left him a 
wreck. He has lost his ballast, he has lost his 
rudder, he has lost all his sails and rigging ; alas ! 
what will become of him? He will be lost himself, 
inevitably. Ah, why cannot our legislators and 
philanthropists see this? 

It is said — but for the honor of my State I hope it 
is not true — that in some institutions for the poor and 



RITUALISM. 139 

for prisoners in this State, Catholics who have 
honest consciences, and object to joining in Prot- 
estant worship and prayers, are compelled to do so 
under penalty of a severe punishment. 

Can it be possible that men of education and cul- 
ture would endeavor to force men to be hypocrites? 
for it would be hypocrisy for one to simulate wor- 
ship of any kind whatever. 

It is replied that such is the rule. The sooner it 
is changed the better. Talk of freedom of con- 
science ! It is a bad rule that does not guarantee 
equal rights. I remember well, when, some years 
ago, I visited Deer Island on Sundays to celebrate 
Mass, the inmates were made to fall into line, and 
word was given : " Catholics, stand out ! " and they 
alone went to chapel ; but whenever the Protestant 
chaplain came, it was not "Protestants, stand out ! " 
but all, without exception, were marched to 

I chapel. 



I 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DISESTABLISHMENT. 

A NOTHER notable instance of wise legislation, 
not without forethought, is the disestablish- 
ment of the Protestant Church in Ireland. The 
Church established by law was a huge wen, and 
very properly has been amputated ; but this am- 
putation was not an act of charity, but one of stern 
justice to Ireland. By what right, human or 
Divine, could the English Government impose upon 
any portion of its subjects a religion which they did 
not believe in? Religion is an affair of conscience, 
not of legislation. Irish Catholics were compelled 
by law to pa}^ tithes of all they possessed to the 
Protestant ministers. Tax men's consciences ! 
Can anything be conceived more unjust and ciruel ? 
The only wonder is that the good people ever paid 

(140) 



DISESTABLISHMENT. I4I 

the tax. However, Parliament has awakened at 
last, and reparation, though long delayed, has 
been in a manner made. The tithe system is no 
more. 

NoWy if a parson dies in a Catholic parish or 
district it is well understood that no other will suc- 
ceed him ; he is the last of his race. " The Brit- 
ish Quarterly Review " for January last justly 
remarks, that " the Act for the Disestablishment 
of the Irish Church was one of great importance 
for what it did, but of still greater importance for 
what it implied. It disposed, once for all, of the 
fond fantasy that the State is bound in its collective 
capacity to have a conscience, and, in obedience to 
the dictates of that conscience, to impose its own 
creed upon the community as the established faith 
of the country, to be supported by the authority 
and enforced by the sanction of law." 



CHAPTER XXV. 



ENCUMBERED ESTATES. 



'T^HE " Act authorizing the sale of Encumbered 
Estates " will, if carried out in the spirit of its 
chief and original intention, relieve the country 
from a frightful incubus ; it will enrich its pop- 
ulation, and especially the small farmers, give 
them permament homes, and good and lasting 
titles to their homesteads. The former nominal 
owner of such estates can no longer oppress the 
present owner ; nevermore can he send officers of 
the crown to evict him ; on the contrary, should the 
former owner set foot upon the land, he might him- 
self be summarily and instantly ejected. 

(142) 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



tenant's rights. 



'TPHIS Act was either the cause or the conse- 
quence, I cannot say which, of the former 
Act. This latter Act has greatly ameliorated the 
condition of the people. The tenure of property is 
now, in Ireland, very much like our own. Should 
a tenant be ejected, he can compel the landlord to 
compensate him for improvements made. 



(143) 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

HOME RULE FOR IRELAND. 

I r'NGLfAND thinks slowly, but she thinks, gen- 
erally, especially nowadays, quite surely. 
She has come out right so often of late, that we 
may have great hopes of her. Since what she has 
done for Canada, I am convinced that she will be 
compelled to grant Home Rule, and a Parliament, 
for Ireland. A writer in " Blackwood's," of August, 
1871, remarks, that "whatever a portion of the 
press may say, England cannot afford to despise 
nationalists. The green flag that these men would 
now hoist is not the banner of rebellion. There 
are at least a very considerable number who do not 
desire separation from England, who would wish 
to see Ireland intrusted with the care of her own 

(144) 



HOME RULE FOR IRELAND. I45 

interests, and able to attend to the development of 
her own resources." 

But as regards Ireland and the Irish, there is one 
thing which I do want to see before I die, and 
that is a United Ireland ; — Ireland united in 
religion — united in politics — united in love. No 
contests, no jealousies between county and county, 
between north and south ; no Orangeism, no 
Ribbonism ; united in all good works ; united 
at home, united abroad. Then will good old 
Ireland become the admiration of the nations, and 
the glory of the earth I 
10 



APPENDIX. 



BRIEF MEMOIR OE THE REV. GEORGE F. HASKINS. 



TN writing a sketch of the Life of Father Haskins, 
we are restrained — too extensively restrained — by a 
hand we feel bound to obey, — his own. We begin this 
therefore necessarily incomplete biography under the pe- 
culiar disadvantage of being prevented from uttering our 
admiration or our praise. 

., The Rev. George F. Haskins comes from an old New 
England stock, firm adherents of the Episcopal Church. 
His father's residence was at the corner of Carver and 
Eliot Streets, Boston, where the subject of this sketch was 
born, on April 4th, 1806. The childhood and youth of the 
boy had nothing in them differing from the usual course 

(147) 



148 APPENDIX. 

of New England lads of respectable parentage. At an 
early age he attended the schools of Masters Webb and 
Payson, which he left in 1816, and entered the Boston 
Latin School, in School Street. This period of Father 
Haskins's life is simply a dry recital of common events, 
with their dates. 

In August, 1833, he left the Latin School and entered 
Harvard College. Here his course was one of earnest 
and successful application, and he graduated, and left 
Harvard, in 1836. His mind leaning to the ministry, he 
immediately commenced the study of theology in the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, under the direction of the 
Rev. Alonzo Potter and Rev. George W. Doane, both 
of whom afterwards became Protestant bishops. About 
this time the late Rev. Lyman Beecher (father of the 
present Beecher family) began, in Boston, to deliver a 
course of lectures against the Catholic Church — the 
principal result of which was the conversion to the Cath- 
olic faith of several thoughtful minds who went to 
search for the proof of Dr. Beecher's extravagant asser- 



APPENDIX. 



149 



tions, and failed to find It; and, on the other hand, from 
these fanatical tirades might be traced the stream of bad 
feeling- that burst its restraints on the night of the burn- 
ing of the Ursuline Convent, in Charlestown. These 
lectures were attended by Father Haskins, and by his 
friend George W. Lloyd, Esq., who became a Catholic 
shortly after the reception of Father Haskins. In an- 
swer to Dr. Lyman Beecher, a course of lectures were 
delivered by the lamented Bishop Fenwick and Dr. 
O'Flaherty, able and eloquent preachers and practisers 
of the Word ; and, by God's grace, both Mr. Haskins and 
Mr. Lloyd were led to attend these lectures, with a fair 
view of " hearing the other side." Thus were the seeds 
of truth sown in Mr. Haskins's mind almost before he 
wished them to come, and certainly before he realized 
that the foundation-stone of his Protestantism was 
loosened. 

While this theological discussion was proceeding, Mr. 
Haskins officiated as lay-reader at South Leicester 



ISO 



APPENDIX. 



Church every Sunday. On February 8th, 1829, he was 
ordained by Bishop Griswold. 

In October, 1830, Rev. Mr. Haskins, having dissolved 
his connection with the House of Industry, in Boston, in 
which he had been acting as chaplain, received a call to 
the position of rector of Grace Church, Boston, which 
he accepted. On December 9th of the same year he re- 
ceived priest's orders from Bishop Griswold. 

On May 32d, 1830, while acting as chaplain in the 
House of Industry, Mr. Haskins formed an acquaintance 
that led, in the end, to his happy conversion. This ac- 
quaintance was with the lamented Rev. Father Wiley, then 
attached to the Old Cathedral in Franklin Street. The 
manner of their meeting is worth relating : The Rev. 
Mr. Haskins was Protestant chaplain of the House of 
Industry, and in that institution, dying, lay an old Irish 
woman, who asked for a Catholic priest. The master 
of the house said to the poor creature, when the demand 
was made : " Oh ! I'll send you a priest as good as any 
of your Catholic priests " ; a;nd he communicated with 



APPENDIX. 151 

the chaplain. Mr. Haskins went to the dying woman, 
and to him she repeated her desire to see a Catholic 
priest before she died. The earnest request had its ef- 
fect ; he said to the woman : " You shall have a priest ; 
I'll go for him myself." He went out, and proceeded to 
the priest's house in Franklin Street, where he saw Father 
Wiley, told him his errand, and that he was a Prot- 
estant minister. Some conversation resulted from this 
announcement, which induced Mr. Haskins to say to a 
Protestant friend of his, on leaving the house, that he 
would examine for himself certain matters in Protestant- 
ism to which Father Wiley had referred; and from that 
day his mind was bent on finding the truth, which pur- 
suit it never relinquished until crowned with full success. 
The old woman in the House of Industry was visited by 
Father Wiley, and received the Sacraments ; when 
she saw the Protestant chaplain again, she raised up 
her poor weak hands, and, with streaming eyes, 
she cried out, "God bless you, sir! oh, God bless you, 
and may you be a Catholic yourself before you die ! '* 



152 APPENDIX. 

Who shall say what effect this friendless pauper's prayer 
had in the conversion of Father Haskins? In God's 
sight it weighed heavier than the supplications of kings. 
In October, 1831, Rev. Mr. Haskins closed his con- 
nection with Grace Church, Boston, and accepted an en- 
gagement in Grace Church, Providence. Here his 
labors in the Protestant ministry were crowned with 
unusual success ; but running under the surface of his 
outward calm was a wearying current of doubt and per- 
plexity. He saw Father Wiley again, In company with 
his cousin, Rev. Mr. Foxcroft, and the earnest and 
learned conversation of that pious priest sank deep into 
his heart. In 1833 he left Providence, having declined 
an invitation to be Pastor of Grace Church. He re- 
turned to Boston, and was appointed chaplain of the 
House of Reformation, which position he filled until 1836, 
when he resigned. During the next few years we find 
the Rev. Mr. Haskins filling many offices of trust in his 
native city, such as Overseer of the Poor, Master of the 
Boylston Asylum, Teacher in the " School of Moral 



APPENDIX. 153 

Discipline," etc. On January 4th, 1837, we find 
the following entry in a diary then kept by Mr. 
Haskins : *' Administered Communion for the last 
time as a Protestant, having resolved to do so no 
more till I have settled certain religious scruples." 
So all these years the good seed was sending forth 
its roots, and waiting for the time to fructify. In 
1830 we find that the Rev. Mr. Haskins was unan- 
imously elected Superintendent of the House of Ref- 
ormation, and soon after this event that he informed 
the Board of Directors of his religious opinions ; upon 
which announcement, his diary says, " they treated me 
with the utmost kindness and politeness." On January 
30th, 1839, he surrendered the ministry in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church into the hands of Bishop Griswold ; 
and in May of the same year was unanimously reelected 
Superintendent of the House of Reformation. On this 
occasion, on his again referring to his religious opinions, 
a well-known member of the Board, and a gentlemen 
who holds a high position on a charitable Board to-day, 



154 APPENDIX. 

said to him, " We don't care if you're a Mahometan, 
only don't teach the children to follow you." 

In 1840 he resigned the position of Superintendent of 
the House of Reformation. Having cleared his hands 
of all these worldly cares, that were only holding 
him back from what his heart yearned for, Mr. Haskins 
went to Taunton, to visit Father Wiley, with whom he 
spent a few days, and while there commenced a spiritual 
retreat of three days, to pi'epare for reception into the 
Holy Catholic Church. On November iithj he was con- 
ditionall};^ baptized and received into the Church by the 
Rev. Father Wiley, having previously made his recanta- 
tion of Protestantism. Shortly afterwards he was con- 
firmed in the Church of the Holy Cross, by Right Rev. 
Bishop Fenwick, and on the same day made his First 
Communion. 

Soon after these momentous changes in his life's 
course, Mr. Haskins went to Europe, visiting Rome, and 
several other cities of the continent, finally entering the 
Seminary of St. Sulpice, in Paris. Here he became in- 



APPENDIX. 155 

timate with many gentlemen who were afterwards emi- 
nent for piety and zeal : among them the late Bishop 
Fitzpatrick, the present Right Rev. Bishop of Boston, 
Very Rev. P. F. Lyndon, V. G., and others belonging 
to the diocese of Boston. 

While a resident in Rome, Father Haskins was present 
when Alphonse Ratisbonne — the Jew who was mirac- 
ulously converted, in 1842, by a vision of the Blessed Vir- 
gin Mary — received First Communion. A very beauti- 
ful description of this conversion is given in the pages of 
a former book written by Father Haskins. In Rome, 
too, at this time he became acquainted with a Protestant 
gentleman, named Bayley, who soon afterwards was 
converted to Catholicity, and became a priest ; he is now 
the Right Rev. Bishop of Newark. 

On Father Haskins's return to Boston he was sent to 
Providence, to take the place of his spiritual parent, 
Father Wiley, whose health was failing. It is a beau- 
tiful and touching evidence of human affection, this con- 
tinuous chain between Father Wiley and Father Haskins, 



156 APPENDIX. 

and it remained unbroken to the end. When his last 
hour had come, Father Wiley appointed his beloved 
friend executor of his v/orldly affairs, and died peaceful^ 
in his arms. On returning to Boston, Father Haskins 
was appointed Pastor of St. John's Church, and has had 
the charge of that and St. Stephens up to the present 
time. 

The leading event in Father Haskins's life — the object 
to which he devoted all his energy and zeal — has btren 
the establishment and management of a home for desti- 
tute boys, — the House of the Angel Guardian. The want 
of a Catholic Orphan Asylum for boys had long been felt. 
A visitor to the State Reform School, the House of 
Reformation, the Farm School, and the several State 
and County Almshouses, found in each and all of these 
institutions crowds of Catholic boys, whose destiny it" 
was to lose the faith of their fathers, and go out on the 
world corrupted by evil association, without a guide or 
a responsibility, and plodding their chequered road from 
the almshouse probably to the State Prison. To aid in 



APPENDIX. 157 

the work of perversion, societies were formed to receive 
Catholic children, and provide for them, till a number 
should be collected sufficient to fill a car, when they were 
swiftly steamed to some Western State, and there sold, 
body and soul, to farmers and squatters. The state of 
things at last becoming intolerable, the Bishop ap- 
pointed Father Haskins to take the necessary steps to 
commence the establishment of a Home for Catholic Or- 
phans. The first place occupied for this purpose was a 
small frame building in Moon-street Court, which would 
accommodate about thirty-five boys. In a few weeks 
every bed had its little occupant. 

Very soon it was found there was not room for one- 
tenth part of the applicants for admission, and it was 
also found that the most urgent applicants were not the 
most needy. On the contrary, nearly all had means 
enough, and brought their children to the House because 
they could not manage them at home. Seeing this, it 
was decided to follow the plan of the Directors of the St. 
Vincent's Asylum for girls, under the charge of the 



158 APPENDIX. 

Sisters of Charity, which was to demand of each immate a 
certain sum per montli or week, during their stay. This 
was found to have an excellent effect in preserving the 
self-respect of both parents and boys. If the child, how- 
ever, is indeed a friendless orphan, he is not turned away 
from the door because of want of means to pay for sup- 
port, but he is received into the institution, and clothed, 
fed, and taught like the others, and provided, after a time, 
with a good home. During the year 1871, the amount 
received for board of boys was $13^259.53 ; and in the 
two previous years, by their exhibitions of music and 
declamation, the boys earned more than $5,000 clear of 
all expenses. 

Since the establishment of the House of the Angel 
Guardian, nearly 5,000 boys have been received, edu- 
cated, and sent out to good homes, to trades and pro- 
fessions. To-day some are lawyers, some are artists, 
some mechanics, some musicians, some clerks and book- 
keepers, some live in family service, and many are 
steady, honest laborers. 



APPENDIX. 159 

In his Report for 1871, Father Haskins says: " Were 
it not for the Home for Destitute Children, the House of 
the Angel Guardian, and the Home for Little Wan- 
derers, our State and Municipal authorities would have 
been forced, by sheer necessity, to erect additional build- 
ings, or else to establish other juvenile asylums. 

" Therefore it is, that, w^ith the independence which I 
think becomes a true American, I plead for denomina- 
tional asylums. Let persons of any denomination of 
religious belief purchase buildings and lands, and estab- 
lish an asylum for the orphans, for the homeless and the 
wayward, to be managed by persons of their own faith ; 
then let the State come forward with its ' God speed you ! ' 
— 'We will aid you.' This, surely, would be the wisest 
policy of any State that attached importance to the in- 
culcation of religion and morals." 



H hb' 79 























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